The Improvement Era

*/L~* i^^y-**-~7^

IJJJi'lUf!

M

EDUCATION NUMBER

Vol. XVI

JULY, 1913

No. 9

ORGAW OF THE PRIESTHOOD &C/ORUMS, THE YOUNG MEN'S MUTUAL

IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATIONS AND THE SCHOOLS OF THE CHURCti OF

JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE GENERAL BOARD AT SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

BEFORE THE SMOKB
CLEARS AWAY
On your fire-stricken shop, factory,
office or store, you can resume busi-
ness if Insured with us. No long
unnecessary delays in adjusting-, no
haggling over terms; but prompt pay-
ment of losses every time. It's to our
Interest to get you set up in business
again — we can insure you again.
HOME FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OF UTAH

Heber J. Grant & Co. K

30-26 So. Main St. Salt Lake City. Utah

BOTH PHONES 351

Jos, Wm. Taylor

Utah's Leading Undertaker
and Licensed Embalmer.

Fine Funeral Chapel, Private
Parlor, Show Rooms and Morgua

OPTICS OPEN DAT AND NIGHT

SI, as and 80 South West Temple St.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

Joseph Smith
as Scientist

Cloth Binding - 75c

History of Joseph
Smith &£'.

Moth

Cloth - $1.00
Morocco - $2.50

&E3CD OBDBBfl TO

Improvement Era

20-22 Bishop's Bldg., Salt Lake City

Western Scout Shoes

Give Splendid Satisfaction.

The Ideal Summer Shoe for

Boys, Youths and Men

"MOUNTAINEER"

AND

"THE LEADER"
OVERALLS

They Never Rip

14 HEN WRITING TO ADVERTISERS, HLEAsh MENTION THE "ERA"

EDUCATION IN UTAH.

The illiteracy in Utah is 2y2 per cent and the state stands
third in literacy.

Utah teachers, of whom there are 703 males and 1,934 fe-
males, received $1,564,522 in wages for the year 1912.

Utah has seven hundred public schools, with 2,637 teachers ;
and 111,331 children of school age of whom 95,000 receive in-
struction in the schools.

The valuation of school property in Utah has increased from
$1,386,851, in 1906, to $8,000,000, in 1913; and the school popu-
lation, from 79,339 to 111,331. The amount expended annually
for the support of common sc hools, during the same period in-
creased from $900,995 to $4,000,000.

Utah has four public high schools with at least three hun-
dred boys attending, among whom there isn't one boy who uses
tobacco or strong drink in any form. It is the ambition of every
high school in the state, under the direction of the state officers,
to reach this standard.

The public high schools of Utah have increased from five, in
1900, when 1,088 students enrolled, to forty in 1913, with an en-
rollment of more than 6,000 students. The enrollment in the
high schools of the United States increased from half a million,
in 1900, to nearly a million, in 1910; during the past ten years the
increase in Utah has much more than kept pace with that of the
nation at large.

The standard of qualification of teachers in Utah is as high
as that of any other state in the Union. State Superintendent,
A. C. Nelson is authority for the statement that there are only
three other states requiring the same standard, — New York, Indi-
ana and California. Andrew S. Draper, who died recently, erect-
ed a lasting invisible monument to his educational career by
raising the standard of efficiency of the public school teachers of
his state, New York ; and the requirement of certification of
teachers in Utah, in operation since 1911, ranks with the new reg-
ulations in New York.

HON. P. P. CI.AXTOX, UNITED STATES COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION

Improvement Era

Vol. XVI JULY, 1913 No. 9

The National Education Association'

Its History, Work and Mission

BY EDWARD H. ANDERSON

Salt Lake City and Utah have for their guests this month
the largest education association in the world — the National
Education Association, which meets July 5 to 11. While it
is the largest organization of the kind in the world, some of
the readers of the Era may not have an adequate conception
of its purpose and mission or the great volume of business done
by its officials, nor of the great number of people who are inter-
ested permanently and temporarily in the association. Secretary
Durand W. Springer reports that his postage bill amounts to
something over $2,000 a year and that since last September over
20,000 letters have been deposited in the local postoffice at Ann
Arbor, Michigan, the present residence city of the secretary. The
permanent fund of the association amounts to $190,000, and yields
an income in interest of $7,000 a year. For the year 1912 the
association received from various sources nearly $50,000, and the
total expenses for the year, including nearly $10,000 which was
transferred to the permanent fund, approximated $45,000, leaving
still a balance of $4,000 in the treasury.

HISTORY AND GROWTH OF THE ASSOCIATION

It is difficult to determine the question of priority of organi-
zation among several educational associations of a national or
semi-national character that arose in the early history of the
United States. It appears that the earliest activity in the direc-
tion of a national organization for the advancement of educational
interests in the United States took place in 1830 and the following

*The writer is indebted to Secretary Durand W. Springer for reports,
bulletins, and historical documents from which the facts in this article are
culled ; also for the portraits accompanying.

844

IMI'U* >\'!MI NT I \< \

years. Tt has been quite definitely determined that the position
of seniority belongs t<> the American [nstitute of Instruction which
was organized in I '»< •- 1< >n. Massachusetts, in August, 1830, the

DR. EDWARD T. FAIRCHILD, PRESIDENT NATIONAL EDUCATION
ASSOCIATION

preliminary meeting having hecn held in March of that year for
the discussion of educational questions. At this time a com-
mittee was chosen to prepare a constitution, and the organization

THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

845

resulted, as stated, on the 19th of August, 1830, when the consti-
tution was adopted and the officers elected, with President Francis
Wayland, of Brown University, as president. Prior to that time
there had been no educational associations barring here and there
a temporary gathering of teachers and educators interested in the
development of pedagogy and learning. This Institute was
largely responsible
for giving Horace
Mann to the edu-
cational leadership
of America which,
as Dr. A. E. Win-
ship has stated, "is
all - sufficient r e-
ward for its exist-
ence." This or-
ganization still ex-
ists. Of it Dr.
Winship says :

"In age it is
peerless, in historic
educational promi-
nence it is unsur-
passed, in delightful
professional com-
radeship it is in a
class by itself, and
the present prosper-
ity is adequate for all
of its necessities.
The past is glorious,
the present gratify-
ing, and there is no
reason why the fu-
ture should not bear

out its early proph- d. W. SPRINGER, SECRETARY NATIONAL EDUCA-
ecy of service to the TION ASSOCIATION

public".

The Western Literary Institute and College of Professional
Teachers came second in order of organization, though some still
claim it to have been the oldest educational association in Amer-
ica. It resulted from the joining of two other organizations that
date from 1829. The Western Institute existed from 1831 to
1845.

Then followed the American Lyceum Association which as-
sumed national dimensions in 1831, and which held its last meet-
ing in 1839.

846

I.MI'Ki IVEMENT I R \

In 1849, after these associations had disorganized, a new
effort was made for the organization of a National Association of
Teachers. This association assembled at Philadelphia, in tin- Mall
of the Controller of Public Schools, October 17 t<> 1''. 1X4*'. under

the presidency of
Hon. Horace
Mann, member of
Congress, and late
secretary of the
Board of Educa-
tion for the state
of Massachusetts.
Jt would not be
out of place to
date the history of
the National Edu-
cation Associa-
tion from this
meeting in 1849 :
though it was not
until August 26,
1857, in Philadel-
phia, that the Na-
tional Teachers'
Association w a s
actually organized.
In 1870, Aug. 17-
19, at Cleveland,
Ohio, it was
changed to, and
has continued un-
der, the name of
the National Edu-
cation Association.
The growth of
the organization
can best be under-
stood when we
state that when Dr. Irwin Shepard, who for nineteen and a half
years was secretary of the association, took office, it was said he
could hold all the records, materials, etc., of which it was then
possessed in his hands. When the office was removed to Ann
Arbor, Michigan, it required two cars to bring the records and
files, for they had a net weight of 68.400 pounds. In 1906 the
association received its legal status when it was incorporated under
a special act of Congress. Its charter was accepted, and it- by-
laws were adopted at the Los Angeles meeting, in 1907.

ROBT. J. ALEY, PRESIDENT UNIVERSITY OF
MAINE, AND SECRETARY OF THE BOARD OF
TRUSTEES, AND THE COUNCIL OF THE NA-
TIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

847

MEMBERSHIP

Besides its active membership, which is over eight thousand,
it has an associate membership which varies yearly from five to ten
thousand. The active
membership is com-
posed of persons who
retain their member-
ship from year to
year, paying their
dues whether they are
able to be present at
the meeting or not.
People who make use
of the associate mem-
bership are largely
those who attend the
meetings, if these hap-
pen to be held in the
neighborhood where
they live, or who take
trips with the Na-
tional Education As-
sociation, principally
for a summer outing.
Thus in Utah this
year we look for at
least a membership of
2,600, many of whom
may perhaps not re-
in a i n permanently
with the association.
Secretary Springer
states that, of the
eight thousand active members about seven thousand are personal,
the remaining one thousand being institutional, consisting largely
of libraries. The association has also a group of about fifty mem-
bers known as corresponding members, comprising foreigners who
have distinguished themselves in the field of education and for
that reason were elected as corresponding members.

SUPT. C. G. PEARSE, VICE PRESIDENT N. E.
A., CITY HALL, MILWAUKEE, WIS.

MEETINGS

Two meetings of the association are held each year. The
summer meeting, generally held in July, and which is by far the
most largely attended, attracts usually from twelve to fifteen

S4S

imi'k< ) vi-: mi-: nt i:ka

thousand teachers in actual attendance, while there has been as
high as forty thousand paid memberships in a year. The summer
meeting lasts a Whole week, beginning as a rule on Saturday.

This year in Salt
Lake City, the Na-
tional Council meet-
ing is held July 5.
Sunday, 6th of July,
known as Educational
Sunday, will be ob-
served here as it is
generally throughout
cities where the asso-
ciation meets. The
sermons in the vari-
ous churches are al-
ways of a character
suitable to the occa-
sion. The general
sessions begin on
Monday, continuing
till the 11th. One
meeting will be held
each day during the
convention, at a time
when none of the de-
partments are meet-
ing. The seventeen
departmental commit-
tees connected with
the association have
from two to four de-
partmental meetings
throughout the week, so scheduled that the departments shall not
interfere with each other.

The mid-winter session is held during the last week in Feb-
ruary and is known as the Department of Superintendents,
although several other departments meet at the same time. This
meeting is more largely given over to the administrative phase of
educational activities, whereas, the summer meeting is devoted to
a more general discussion of methods and educational problems.
The summer and winter meetings are generally not held in the
same section of the country. The winter meeting attracts the at-
tendance of about twenty-three hundred, and this year was held in
Philadelphia ; while, as stated, the summer meeting will probably
attract fifteen thousand teachers and will be held in Salt Lake City.

w

1 ' jfo^

STANLEY

BROWN, JOLIET,

N. E. A.

ILL., TRUSTEE

THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

849

WORK OF THE ASSOCIATION

A highly important part of the work of the National Educa-
tion Association is the educational investigation carried on under
the direction of the
National Council, a
body of one hundred
and twenty members
representing every
phase of educational
activity. Several of
the departments often
appoint committees to
make special investi-
gations, and reports
are published in pam-
phlet form including
such subjects as,
"Teaching Morals in
the Public Schools of
the United States,"
"Provisions for Ex-
ceptional Children in
Public Schools," "The
Place of Industry in
Public Education,"
etc. In the history of
the organization, hun-
dreds of these com-
mittees, composed of
the greatest educators
in the country, have
submitted reports

which stand as the very highest authority on the different subjects
with which they deal. Some of these were published years ago,
but many of the ideas which they present are still entirely in accord
with those of the present day. These pamphlets are selling in
large numbers. At the last meeting of the association $8,735 was
appropriated for the use of committees making these investiga-
tions, for this year. The members from Utah in this National
Council are State Supt. A. C. Nelson who has held the position
since 1908, and Supt. D. H. Christensen, of the Salt Lake City
schools, since 1911.

Aside from the publications of the National Council, there is
a book which contains the proceedings of the mid-winter meeting
entitled, "Proceedings of the Department of Superintendents,"
also a book entitled "The Addresses" containing all that takes

J- y.

JOYNER, RALEIGH, N. C, STATE SUPT.
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

K5<)

I.MI'K* iVIMI NT I R \

place at the summer meeting; then a year book which contains a
report "i' all business, and the names, titles and positions of all the
active members. Since there air 350 pages in this volume which

ci mtains the names
and addresses of
e i g li t thousand
members, kept up-
to-date, it may well
be imagined that
this requires .threat
labor on the part
of tlic secretary's
office.

OFFICERS AND

STATE DIRECTORS

At the annual
meeting a director
from every state is
elected ; also a
president, eleven
vice-presidents, and
a treasurer are
elected. The Board
of Directors con-
sists of these per-
sons, and the ex-
presidents of the
association hecome
life-directors. The
president and vice-president, and the treasurer, are elected every
year, and the retiring president always becomes the first vice-
president. The directors hold two meetings each year, and in the
interim business is carried on by the executive committee consist-
ing of the president, vice-president, treasurer and the chairman
of the hoard of five trustees, and one director selected from the
board. All the property owned by the association is held by the
Board of Trustees, who are also the custodians of the permanent
fund. These trustees are elected by the directors for a period of
four years one being elected each year. The hoard of trustees
elects th • secretary who is the .administrative officer of the organi-
zation. There is also an Executive Committee of five. The in-
tent of so placing the election of the secretary, was to give the
office an element of permanency. The last incumbent, as stated,
held the office for nearly twenty year-, and then resigned. Each
of the departments selects its own officers— president, vice-presi-

GEORGE B. Cook. STATE SUPT. PUBLIC IN-
STRUCTION, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE,
LITTLE ROCK. ARK.

THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 851

dent and secretary, and the National Council, having' charge of all
the educational investigations, have in addition an executive com-
mittee of three members.

Utah was first connected with the Education Association by a
state director in the year 1874, when Territorial Superintendent of
Schools O. H. Riggs was chosen to that position, holding the place
until 1877. From that time up to 1884, Utah was not represented
in the organization. At this date Prof. J. M. Coyner became state
director for Utah and held the place until 1886. The association
met at Topeka, Kansas, in that year, at which time Edward H.
Anderson, then superintendent of schools of Weber County, be-
came state director, 1886-7 ; he was followed by Prof. W. M.
Stewart, 1887-88 ; J. F. Millspaugh, 1888-89. Three years again
passed, to 1892, when Utah was not represented ; then J. F. Mills-
paugh was again chosen for 1892-3 ; Ella M. Dukes, 1894-5 ; W.
R. Malone, 1895-7; Dr. J. M. Tanner, 1897-99; F. B. Cooper,
1899-1901 ;W. J. Kerr, 1901-4; A. C. Nelson, 1904-5; D. H.
Christensen, 1905-10; G. N. Child, 1910-13.

THE SECRETARY

Practically all the business of the association is handled
through the office of the secretary, excepting the collection of dues
at the summer meeting. Mr. Durand W. Springer, the present
secretary, was elected in 1912. Mr. Irwin Shepard, who preceded
him, acted from 1893 to July, 1912, and he devoted his entire time
to the work of the association since 1898. During his incumbency
the association's permanent fund grew from $40,000 to $190,000 in
1912. The Secretary is charged with great responsibility, his list
of duties being long and varied. He is the administrative officer,
the secretary of the Executive Committee, of the Board of Direc-
tors, and of the active members at the annual meeting. He is
charged with issuing all the volumes of proceedings, with making
arrangements for holding meetings, and with the printing and dis-
tribution of the bulletins and official programs. One of the great
problems requiring careful attention is the railroad rates, and con-
cessions. He must deal with eight different railroad systems in
the United States, securing rates for the members wherever they
reside. The second problem is the local conditions in the city in
which the meeting is to be held. In order to handle such a large
number in a satisfactory manner the preliminary arrangements
must be carefullv worked out ahead of time. The third problem,
much more easily met, is the arrangement for receiving the annual
dues, distributing badges, and printing and distributing the annual
programs. Members who attend the annual meeting must pay
their dues at the tfme, but all the permanent members who do not
attend the meeting must receive notice of their dues.

852 IMPROVF.MKNT ERA

The editing of the manuscript for the "Addresses," and "Pro-
ceedings'' ( 1 .427 pages for 1912) and the proof reading are no

small tasks. Furthermore, at least a third of the 3,000 active mem-
l era change their residences each year, and every name on the
"Year book" must be checked before the book can be issued. The
office is a center for all kinds of questions in regard to educational
matters, requiring considerable time in looking up the information
desired. At the meeting in Salt Lake City it is likely that the
headquarters of the secretary's office will be changed from Ann
Arbor, to Washington, since the permanent heado|iiarters are de-
termined by the board of directors, and Mr. Springer asked that
the office be only temporarily located in Ann Arbor.

MISSION OF THE N. E. A.

At the national gathering of teachers and superintendents in
Philadelphia, in 1849, which movement was destined to continue
through the National Teachers' Association, and later the National
Education Association, Hon. Horace Mann, its president, gave
an opening address from which we quote. His inspiring and even
prophetic words may be said to outline the mission of the associa-
tion up to our own day, and are as applicable now as then, insofar
as they have not yet been fulfiled :

"By the communion and the sympathy of assemblies like this we
can not only enlighten the guiding forces of the mind, but we can
generate the impulsive forces of the heart. We cannot only diffuse
new intelligence, but we can excite new enthusiasm. Throughout the
whole country the machinery of education needs to be increased in
strength, and worked by a mightier power. In all material interests
we are proverbial as a people for our enterprise. Let us seek for our
country the higher honor of becoming proverbial in our regard for
moral and spiritual interests. Let us devise systems of education that
shall reach every child that is born in the land; and, wherever political
privileges exist, let the intelligence be imparted and the virtues incul-
cated, which alone can make those privileges a blessing. *****

"Look, too, at the condition of our country, and see what need
there is of comprehensiveness in our plans and of energy in their ad-
ministration. We have a higher object than to prepare a system of
education for any one locality, or for any one party. To the West a
region spreads out almost interminably — a region to be soon filled, not
with savages, but either with Christians, or with men as much worse
than savages as Christians are better. On the East, there comes
pouring in upon us a new population, not of our own production, not
of American parentage nor the growth of American institutions.
Owing to the marvelous improvements in the art of transportation, the

THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

853

Atlantic Ocean has been narrowed almost to a river's breadth. The
western and the eastern continent by the power of these improvements
lie side by side of each other. Their shores, for thousands of miles,
like two ships, lie broadside and broadside ; and from stem to stern
the emigrant population of Europe is boarding us, tens of thousands
in a day. We must provide for them, or we will all sink together.

"And what are we doing to prepare for the great exigencies of the
future, which the providence of God seems to have placed in our
hands; and, I speak with reverence, to have left to our disposal? A
responsibility is upon us that we cannot shake off. We cannot escape
with the lying plea of Cain, 'Am I my brother's keeper?' Let us then
be aroused by every consideration that can act upon the mind of a
patriot, a philanthropist', or a Christian; and let us give our hands, our
heads, and our hearts to the great work of human improvement,
through the instrumentality of free, common schools. As far as in
us lies, let us save from ruin, physical, intellectual and moral, the
thousands and hundreds of thousands, aye, the millions and hundreds
of millions of the human race, to whom we are bound by the ties of a
common nature and of kindred blood, and who, without our assist-
ance, will miserably perish, but with our assistance may be saved to
usefulness and honor, and immortal glory."

RESIDENCE DISTRICT, EAST ON SOUTH TEMPLE ST., SALT LAKE CITY

The American Buffalo

A Sketch of the Animal in its Picturesque Relation
to the West

BY LEVI EDGAE YOUNG, M. A.

"I go to kill the buffalo.

The Great Spirit sent the buffalo,

On hills, in plains and woods.
So give me my bow; give me my bow;
I go to kill the buffalo."

— Ute Song of the Buffalo.

Before the white man settled the present confines of the
United States, two kinds of thoroughfares led to the most remote
and isolated parts of our country. These were the Indian and
buffalo trails. The buffalo were the earliest pathfinders. They
made great roads across the continent, and on the summits of the
watersheds of North America ; not only across the Appalachian
mountains into the interior of the country, but from the Missouri
river westward, into the Rocky Mountains. Long before the old
( Oregon and Santa Fe trails were made famous by the trappers,
freighters, and pony express, they were the highways of the buffalo.
From the Missouri up the Platte river to the site of Fort Bridger,
then on to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, the buffalo made his
way to the salt licks of the Great Basin. He roamed all over the
Mississippi Valley from the height of land separating the waters
of the Arctic and the 1 ludson Bay country to the Gulf of Mexico.
lie knew full well the fertile valleys of the Rocky Mountain-, and
the canyon- and valleys of the present Utah, Idaho, and Columbia
River country. Peter Skeene < >gden, who established a trading
post "ii the Weber River where I tgden City now stands, in 1824.
-peak- of the many herd- he -aw in the Valley <>i the Great Salt
Lake; and the Ashley party which established a trading post on
the west shore of Utah Lake, in 1826, report having killed many
antelope and buffalo during their first winter of rendezvous on
the lake. We know that he was a persistent occupant of the val-
leys of the Wasatch, and it was a buffalo trail that was first made
from the prairie region east <>f the Rockies through the canyons to
the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.

THE AMERICAN BUFFALO

855

The buffalo needed extensive feeding grounds, and the area
traveled by a herd was thousands of miles in a single season.
They also had their wallows, stamping grounds, and licks. The
Platte River was a famous place for wallows, as was also the
Jordan River in Salt Lake Valley. In the heat of summer, the
buffalo found good wallows where they could immerse themselves
in a slimy mud, which dried upon their bodies and protected them
from flies, mosquitoes, and gnats. The salt licks were the "foci of
all their roads." Since salt was as necessary to the buffalo as
grain is to the horse, salt springs and lakes were hunted out. The
shores of the Great Salt Lake were favorite haunts for this animal.
On the old Oregon Trail which followed the Platte and North
Platte to the Green River valley, thousands of bison were killed

AVARD FAIRBANKS BUFFALO*

by the emigrants in the very early days of the westward migration.
In fact the bones of millions of these animals were found upon
the banks of those streams and over the entire prairie region. The
killing of the buffalo is one of the tragedies of our American
history. They were needlessly sacrificed at times, not only by
the old trappers and colonizers, but by the western Indian tribes

*Mr. Fairbanks is a promising young Utah artist in his sixteenth year
whose work has received flattering notices in New York papers. He dedi-
cated this buffalo to the public schools of the United States. Many casts
of his work have been made, some in bronze by Tiffany & Co., New York.
— The Editors.

856 IMPR( (VEMENT ERA

as well. It is a |>itv that something was not done in the early
fifties to proted the animal from nttcr annihilation.

Thai the buffalo were extremely numerous there can be no
doubt. Colonel Dodge describes a herd fifty miles wide, and
says thai it took five days to pass a given point. In 1868, a train
• mi the Kansas Pacific Railroad traveled for one hundred and
twenty miles through a continuous herd of buffalo, "packed so
densely thai the earth was black, and the train was compelled to
stop several times." Colonel Tnman in his Old Santa Fe Trail
concludes that from 1868 to 1881, over thirty-one millions of buf-
falo were killed on the great plains. In Kansas alone there was
paid out between these two dates two million five hundred thous-
and dollars for buffalo bones found on the prairies. These bones
were used by the various carbon factories in the manufacture of
fertilizers. With the building of the Union Pacific railroad,
thousands of travelers, to the Rocky Mountains spent their time
in a wanton slaughter of the animals of the plains. Those who
killed for the skins alone, made it a lucrative business, and a great
demand for buffalo robes sprang up all over America. "Buffalo
Bill" while employed as a hunter for the Kansas Pacific Railroad.
in 1867-63, killed nearly five thousand buffalo in less than
eighteen months. The buffalo were a great boon to the pio-
neers of the West. Constituting the main source of food supply
not only for the Indians of the plains, but the frontiersman as
well, they have a setting in western history that is unique. Their
hides and flesh were useful especially in winter. In fact, an old
Sioux chief declares that "The whites never could have taken the
lands from the Indians, had the buffalo been preserved." It
was not until the buffalo had almost been exterminated that the
great Indian wars were brought to a close in the early seventies.
Buffalo with other wild animals of the American wilderness were
looked upon by the Indians as gifts of the Great Spirit for the
welfare of the Red Men. Red jacket, a famous chief of the Six
Nations, delivered an address, in the summer of 1805, before a
council of his people. Christian missionaries were present and
sooke about the desire of the white man to educate the Indian in
the "ways of righteousness." "Red Jacket, or better Sogoyewapha.
which was his Indian name, said among other things:

"Brothers, listen to what we say. There was a time when our
forefather* owned this great land. Their scats extended from the
rising to the setting sun. The Great Spirit had made it for the use of
the Indians, lie had created the buffalo, the deer, and other animals
for food. He had made the bear and the heaver. Their skins served
us for clothing. He had scattered them over the country and taught
us how to take them. He had caused the earth to produce corn for
bread. All this he had done for his red children because he loved

THE AMERICAN BUFFALO 857

them. If we had some disputes about our hunting grounds, they were
generally settled without the shedding of much blood."

Pathetic words ! The buffalo with the beaver and antelope
were gifts of the Great Spirit to his children. They formed a
part of the life of the Indian ; they were the denizens of plain and
mountain, wilderness and forest, without whom the Indian could
not have lived the many ages on this continent.

Among the Sioux the buffalo was considered the "King of
beasts," and his image played an important part in the ghost and
sun dances. The Siouxan tradition as to the origin of the buffalo
is full of suggestion. I give it in the words of Bushotter, the
American ethnologist :

ORIGIN OF THE BUFFALO

The buffalo originated under the earth. It is said that in the
olden times, a man who was journeying came to a hill where there
were many holes in the ground. He explored them, and when he had
gone within one of them, he found plenty of buffalo chips, and buffalo
tracks were on all sides; and here and there he found buffalo hair
which had come out when the animals rubbed against the walls. These
animals were the real buffalo, who dwelt underground, and some of
them came up to this earth and increased here to many herds. These
buffalo had many earth lodges, and there they raised their children.
They did many strange things. Therefore when a man can hardly be
wounded by a foe, the people believe that the former has seen the
buffalo in dreams or visions, and on that account has received mys-
terious help from those animals. All such men who dream of the
buffalo, act like them and dance the buffalo (bull) dance. And the
man who acts the buffalo is said to have a real buffalo inside him, and
a crysalis lies within the flat part of the body near the shoulder-blade;
on account of which the man is hard to kill; no matter how often they
wound him, he does not die. As the people know that the buffalo live
in earth lodges, they never dance the buffalo dance in vain.

Here is the story of the mythic buffalo :

It is said that a mythic buffalo once attacked a party of Indians,
killing one of them. The others fled and climbed a tree, at which the
buffalo rushed many times, knocking off piece after piece of the tree
with his horns till very little of it was left. Then one of the Indians
lighted some tinder and threw it far off into the tall grass, scorching
the buffalo's eyes, and seriously injuring his horns, causing the hard
part of the latter to slip off, so that the animal could no longer gore
any one. But as he was still dangerous, one of the men determined
to fight him at the risk of his own life, and so he slipped down from
the tree, armed with a bow and some arrows. He finally gave the
buffalo a mortal wound. Then all the men came down the tree and
cut up the buffalo after flaying him. They were about to carry off
the body of their dead comrade in a robe, when they were obliged to
climb a tree again because another mythic buffalo had appeared. He

858 IMPROVEMENT ER \

did nol attack them, l>ut went four times around the body of the slain
man. Then he Stopped and said. "Arise to your feet." All at once,
tlic dead man came t<> life. The buffalo addressed him, saying, "Hcrc-
after you shall be mysterious, and the sun, moon, four winds, day and
night shall he your servants." It was so. He could assume the shape
of a fine plume, which was blown often against a tree, to which it
Stuck, as it waved repeatedly.

The members of Cabeza de Vaca's company first saw the
buffalo of the American plains in 1538. De Vaca with his fellow
Spaniards roamed through what is now the coast of the Gulf of
Mexico from Florida to Mexico. This was some three years be-
Fore the famous march of Coronado from the City of Mexico to
the great plains of what is now Kansas and Nebraska. It was
Coronado, however, who gives us our first description of these
denizens of the plains. He found the Indians of Cibola or the
Seven Cities using buffalo meat, and from them he obtained a
supply for his journey further eastward. Coronado's description
of the buffalo is full of interest, and it shows how closely he with
other old Spanish explorers studied the fauna and flora of the
present confines of the southwestern United States. In speaking
of the Buffalo bulls, he says:

"They have very long beards, like goats, and when they are run-
ning, they throw their heads back, with their beard dragging on the
ground. There is a sort of girdle around the middle of the body. The
hair is very woolly, like slurp's, very fine, and in front of the girdle,
the hair is very long and rough like a lion's. They have a great
hump, larger than a camel's. The horns are short and thick, so that
they are riot seen much above the hair. In May they change the hair
in the middle of the body, for a down, which makes perfect lions of
them. They rub against the small trees in the little ravines to shed
their hair, and they continue this until only the down is left, as a snake
changes his skin. They have a short tail with a bunch of hair at the
end. When they run, they carry it erect like a scorpion."

The Spanish explorers not only described the buffalo, but
made drawings of them. These pictures are preserved in many
of the old manuscripts, and one is produced especially for this
article.

During the westward migration of the American people in
the nineteenth century, the buffalo were driven from their old
haunts and in the palmy days of the hide-hunting industry, large
I undies of the skin- were shipped to St. Louis. Fort Leavenworth.
and in the fifties to the tannery at Creelev. Colorado. In those
days, one could have bought a robe for $2.50, which would now
easily be worth some $200. Petition after petition was sent to
Congress during the sixties and seventies asking for some act
which would prevent the terrible slaughter of these animals, but
nothing was ever done in the way of Congressional enactment.

THE AMERICAN BUFFALO 859

It is to the credit of Brig-ham Young- and the "Mormon"
pioneers that the buffalo were killed only for food. There was
no wanton destruction of these animals on the plains by the "Mor-
mons," as there had been by other companies of emigrants along
the Platte river. We have accounts of the "brethren" going on
their hunts for food, and buffalo were killed, but only to supply
the camps with meat. Wilford Woodruff, formerly President of
the "Mormon" Church, has given a most interesting account of a
hunt in his journal. He says:

"When the Utah pioneers had reached Grand Island, on the Platte
river, they were greatly in need of fresh meat. One morning in May,
a herd of buffalo was seen on a little hill not far from the pioneer
camp. "This was an interesting day to the hunters of the
camp. The pioneers made an early start, and after traveling
six miles, camped for breakfast on the prairie in sight of a
herd of buffalo feeding on a bluff to the right of us. There were
about two hundred. Three only of the hunters started out. They
rode as near to them as possible and crawled along the grass, but the
buffalo became frightened and ran away. We had not traveled
more than two miles farther before we discovered another large herd
five miles before us. The hunters assembled and held a council. We
determined to get some of the buffalo meat if possible. We traveled
until we were within a mile of the herd, when a halt was made and
fifteen hunters started together. We all went along until we reached
a bluff within a few rods of the herd. We all made a charge upon
them from the bluffs into the plain, but when we reached the plain, we
soon overtook them, and each man singled out his game. We made
choice generally of cows, and then rushed up to the side of them, and
fired upon them with our pistols, which we found much better to carry
than our rifles, which were very cumbersome in running. I killed a
cow and calf. I then saw O. P. Rockwell with three bulls at bay on
the prairie. We ran to his assistance, and surrounded them and com-
menced firing. They bolted ahead. I put spurs to my horse, and ran
in front and was within about a rod of them, when they pitched at
me and gave me a chase for a fight. It hurried me to get out of their
way. We killed three cows, three bulls, and five calves, making eleven
in all. In the morning, Solomon Hancock had gone out to hunt buf-
falo on foot. As he did not return in the evening, we felt greatly
concerned about him; but in the morning he returned, having killed
a three-year-old cow which he watched during the night to keep the
wolves from eating her. He shot one wolf and the rest ran away.

"This was our first day's buffalo hunt, and we considered the
results quite good inasmuch as we were all strangers to a buffalo
hunt, very few of us having ever seen one before. We dressed our
meat and the wagons came from the camp to take it."

We are removed only a few years from the pioneer days, and
yet the Indians and the buffalo have gone from their old haunts.
As the Red Men have been pushed from their hunting grounds,
the buffalo have been exterminated. To see the buffalo killed
was to the Indians "like a dream of sorrow, a supernatural cloud
of darkness to punish their derelictions. Their old men tell of the

860

IMPROVEMENT ERA

/ears when the buffalo were scarce and had gone a long way off,
but never since the world began, were there no buffalo."

The Indians say the buffalo will come again from the land
where dwells the Great Spirit in his wigwam, where grow only
flowers, tries, and all good things of the land, and where dwell
the Indians of the good old times, in peace and fellowship with
the Father of all.

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

OT.D SrAXTSTT DRAWING OF A BUFFALO

Accounting for Every Idle Word

There is a remark made by the Savior recorded in Scripture
as follows: "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall
give account thereof in the day of judgment." (Matt. 12:36.)
We may wonder how each one of earth's untold millions can
possibly give account of his every idle word in the day of
judgment, but there is no reason to believe that it is not pos-
sible. If man's character is made up of his every thought, word
and (\vc(\, whether idle or otherwise, on the day of judgment
he will stand for what his character denotes: "every idle word,"
as well as every idle thought and deed will be accounted for in
tl e effect they have wrought upon life's record. In other words,
he will amount to just what his good thoughts, words and deeds
represent, minus that which his idle or evil thoughts, words and
deeds have taken from that sum total — Edwin F. Parry.

A Story of Pioneer Days

BY JENNIE LEIGH

The Southern part of our state was, I presume, settled in
much the same way as the Northern part. Many hardships had to
be endured, many obstacles overcome, and what a nerve it must
have taken to be able to stand the constant anxiety of an Indian
attack ; for the Indians were very troublesome, and although the
whites had several staunch friends among this dusky people who
helped a great deal in keeping peace, they were continually stealing
cattle and horses. But this was nothing compared with the terrible
tragedies sometimes enacted when for some fancied wrong these
cruel savages would avenge themselves upon some innocent
victim.

Of the many brave men called from their homes and firesides
to lead the dangerous life of an Indian missionary, my grandfather
was one ; he was with that brave leader Jacob Hamblin in some
of his most thrilling and sometimes tragic experiences.

In the year of 1860, a little company of men consisting of
Jacob Hamblin, Thales Haskell, George A. Smith, Jr., Jehiel Mc-
Connell, Ira Hatch, Isaac Riddle, Amos Thornton, Francis M.
Hamblin, James Pierce, and an Indian called Enos, started from
the Santa Clara, in Washington county, for the purpose of
preaching to the Moquis Indians in Arizona, in the hope of estab-
lishing a mission in some of their towns. Although in the first
part of their journey no accident of interest occurred, the men
were filled with a gloomy foreboding that something very un-
pleasant was going to happen. Courageously they pushed on,
determined to do their best to accomplish that which they had
set out to do.

Everything went well until after two days' travel from the
Colorado river, they found their first watering place dry. They
urged their horses on to the next one before stopping. Undaunt-
ed they started on, but about two o'clock in the afternoon, they
met four friendly Navajos who told them that to go on to their
next destination meant certain death.

The Navajos invited the missionaries to go with them to the
camp of the Spanshanks where they would be protected. What
should they do? To go one way surely meant death, for the
famishing horses could not reach Spanshanks camp without first
having water, while to go on would probably just as certainly

862 IMPROVEMENT ERA

restlll in death, at the hands of the cruel savages lurking in the
mountains.

It was a difficult problem, but they finally decided to continue
their present route and take the chances, desperate though they
were. Brother Haskell, knowing the country, was sent ahead of
the company to entrench himself on the table land which could
be reached only by a narrow pass, while Brother Hamblin re-
mained behind to gather as many of the Indians' plans as he could,
lie learned that the Navajos were determined the missionaries
should not reach the Moquis villages, but whether to kill them,
or let them go home, they had not yet decided. A compromise
was finally effected by which the whites were to trade the goods
they had brought with them to the Indians for blankets, and then
depart for their homes in peace.

The following morning while this bartering was going on,
the In uses were successfully taken to the watering place, but on
the way back, Brother Smith's horse, breaking away from the
band took a trail that led over the mountain and out of sight.

As soon as the news was brought to camp, the owner, against
counsel, jumped on a comrade's horse and started after it alone.
The men being very busy trading, soon forgot all about him. In
a short time Brother Hamblin realized that Brother Smith had
not returned and that most of the Navajos had mysteriously dis-
appeared.

Seized with a terrible fear, he sent two men to search for
him, and after following the road for about a mile, they found
him stretched out on the ground, the lower part of his body rid-
dled with three bullets, and with three arrow wounds between his
shoulders and a buckskin shirt thrown over his head.

Tt was afterwards learned that shortly after leaving camp.
Brother Smith came upon two Indians, one of whom was leading
the mi>sing horse. After persuasion and a little force, they re-
lunctantly gave up the stolen property and Brother Smith was
turning away when one of the Indians, riding up to him, asked
to look at his pistol. Not suspecting any treachery, Brother
Smith handed it to the Indian who in turn handed it to his com-
panion a little in the rear. The latter then, while standing but a
few feet from Brother Smith, mercilessly shot him three times.

Paralyzed and mortally wounded, the victim fell to the ground
where one of his murderers threw a buckskin shirt over his head
while the other pierced him with arrows. It was in this condition
he was found and tenderly carried to his horror-stricken com-
rades. When Brother Hamblin demanded of the Indians why
they had broken their promise they replied, they had partly
avenged themselves for the death of three of their brothers at the
hands of the pale faces.

And they said if the whites would give up two more of their

A STORY OF PIONEER DAYS 863

men to be killed, the rest could go on unharmed. To this Brother
Hamblin replied, "There are only a few of us but we are well
armed and will fight as long as there is one left."

With the help of the four Navajo friends, they hurriedly
cleared camp and mounted their horses, and placing Brother
Smith in the saddle upon a mule, with Brother McConnell be-
hind to hold him on, they hurried away, the Indians in close
pursuit.

Thus they traveled as fast as they could, Brother Smith often
pleading to be left, as he was only an encumbrance to them.
About sundown. Brother Smith asked the company to stop as
everything was growing dark and he was dying. When told
they could not, "Well then, go on," he said, "but I wish I could
die in peace."

In a few minutes he was dead. The only way to save the
lives of the rest of the company was to leave the body of Brother
Smith and hurry on. Wrapping it in a blanket, they laid it in a
hollow place at the side of the trail. After two days more of
hard travel, on tired and jaded animals, they reached a place of
safety exhausted by work and sorrow. A company of twenty men
was srnt out to gather up what could be found of Brother Smith's
body ; as it was winter, it was a hard, cold trip, but they finally
reached the spot to find only his head and a few of the larger
bones. These they carefully gathered up and took home to his
bereaved family and friends.

CEDAR CITY, UTAH

HILL AND VALLEY— FIELDS AND SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAINS, IN

CONTRAST

Customs and Legends of Utah Indians

I'.Y I \(>( II JORGENSEN, PRINCIPAL JORDAN HIGH SCHOOL

IV— The Walker and Black-Hawk Wars

With the exception of Colonel Connor's successful campaign
against the Amerinds on Dear River, most of the Indian troubles
in Utah centered around Sanpete county, because the settlements
there were more isolated, and the Sanpitch Utes had a bold, bad
man as their leader.

The Walker War, 185s

This man, Wakara, or Walker, as he is known in history,
continually gave indications of a desire to stir up trouble among
the colonists, notwithstanding' his pleadings for white neighbors
to settle in his territory. He and his brother Arropine (or Seig-
nerouch) were the leaders in all strife, while Sowiatt, an old
diplomat who always befriended the whites, was the peace chief.

As before remarked, the underlying cause of the Walker
war was the refusal of the settlers to countenance slave-trade
which Spaniards from the southwest had encouraged and prac-
ticed. A signal for a general campaign against the whites was
the killing of Alex. Keele, at Payson, July 18, 1853. Raids were
common all through the southern part of the state, especially on
outlying settlements; horses and cattle were driven off, and the
killing ot lone and defenseless pioneers was of so common occur-
rence tint the settlers became terror stricken, and colonization was
greatly impeded. A company of fifty militiamen under Capt. P.
W. Conover was sent out from Provo to assist the settlers in
Sanpete Valley. A pitched battle was fought with the natives just
east of Mt. Pleasant, and the savages were routed with heavy loss.
Mt. Pleasant. Springtown. Ephraim, and other new settlements
were abandoned, and all gathered in the newly constructed fort at
Manti. "The whole white population of Sanpete Valley at that
time was 7n5 nun. women and children." says Lever, and they all
lived in the Manti fort until 1854. That' summer the Indians
confined their depredations chiefly to Millard county, though kill-
ings occurred at different points in Sanpete, Juab, and other coun-
ties

That year Wakara died and Arropine succeeded his brother
as chief. Arropine was not so bold nor so aggressive as was

CUSTOMS AND LEGENDS OF UTAH INDIANS 865

Wakara, neither did he live up to his promises as well. He pro-
fessed much love for the "Mormon" people, and signed an agree-
ment for peace. This chief deeded the whole of Sanpete county
to President Brigham Young as "Trustee-in-trust" for the peace-
able possession of the whites. A copy of this remarkable docu-
ment is recorded in Book B, Church Transfer records of Sanpete
county, Utah.

The Black-Hawk War, 1865- 187 2

But Arropine's treaties of 1854 and 1855 were grudgingly
kept, "and it taxed the few settlers sorely to supply beef, flour,
clothing, etc., to appease the increasing demands of the natives."
Periodical attacks were made in different places by marauding
bands of Utes, and no man was safe outside the settlements.
Strong forts of stone masonry with look-out towers and port-
holes all around were built at Ephraim, Manti, and other places.
Scouts were on the lookout continually to warn against attacks on
laborers in the fields, or against raids on flocks and herds, but in
spite of the most watchful care, the settlers were the losers, and
patience with the natives ceased to be a virtue. War was actually
on, though Arropine's treaty was supposed to be in vogue.*

In the meantime Black-Hawk, another bold, bad man, had
assumed command of the united Amerind forces from all the
southern parts of the state, and organized his braves for the worst
war in the history of Utah. Open hostilities began around Manti
in March, 1865. The first man killed was Peter J. Ludvigsen, on
Twelve-mile Creek, south of Manti ; and the same day James An-
dersen and Elijah B. Ward were massacred and scalped in Salina
Canyon. Then followed a series of assassinations, raids, and skir-
mishes in various parts of that south country, until the inhabitants
were completely beside themselves with fear and rage. Eighty-
four members of the Sanpete militia led by Col. J. T. S. Allred
went "onto the Sevier" to try to recover stolen stock, and, if pos-
sible, to break up the band of savages operating south of Manti,
but they met with disaster in Salina Canyon where, on April 12th,
Tens Sorensen of Ephraim and Wm. Kearns of Gunnison were
killed.

In July President Brigham Young visited Sanpete to confer
with the people as to the best policy to pursue. Through his influ-
ence Col. Warren S. Snow was elected a brigadier-general, and he
immediately took command of militia and "minute-men." He
pursued the Amerinds into Grass Valley where a pitched battle,
disastrous to the natives, was fought July, 1865. Then fol-

*That chieftain died in Grass Valley, Dec. 4, 1860.

s<rfi IMPROVEMENT EB \

lowed in quick succession engagements at Glenwood, Fish Lake,
Green River, and other places.

Among the notable raids made by the savages was one at
For! Ephraim, October 17, 1865, when William Thorpe, Morten
P. Kuhre and wife, Soren X. Jespersen, Elizabeth Petersen, Benj.
J. Black, and William T. I lite were massacred, and a number of
others wounded, some while harvesting their meager crops in the
field just on the borders of the town, and others while on guard
or in the canyon: at this time more than one hundred head of
cattle were driven away. An especially interesting incident con-
nected with this encounter is the fact that after the savages had
done their worst, as they thought, and had retreated into the
mountains, William D. Kuhre, then an infant about two and one-
half years old. was found on his mother's breast alive and well. It
is surmised that he must have been asleep in the willows near by
while his parents were at work, and perhaps the noise of the melee
awakened him. However, he lives today one of the honored men
of the state, Bishop of Sandy ward, and ex-mayor of that busy
little city.

The winter of 1865 and 1866 was specially severe for those
south settlements, as grasshoppers had taken most of their crops;
and though there was a lull in the warfare, they lived in constant
dread of renewed outbreaks.

With the returning spring, killings and raids became common
again, even as far south as Kane and Washington counties. Soon,
however, a number of notable chiefs were captured near Nephi,
among them, Sanpitch and Ankawakets, but the notorious Black-
Hawk was still at large leading on the brutal assaults.

At last the citizenry of Utah and Salt Lake counties were
aroused to the seriousness of the situation, and Capt. P. W. Con-
over with 50 men from Utah county, and Colonel Kimball with a
company of 50 from Salt Lake county, reached Manti in May,
1866. In June, General Daniel II. Wells came to Manti and took
command of all the troops, and under his wise direction the people
were better organized for defense, and they were able to gather
bounteous crops.

Though the help from the more populous centers reassured
the settlers of Sanpete and Sevier, it did not put an end to the
war, for soon Utah county towns were being raided, and the war
territory was spreading. Richfield, Glenwood, Circleville, and
other new settlements were abandoned, and the fugitives joined
with people of the Sanpete towns for mutual defense, 1866.

Through 1867 and 1868 the war continued. Ephraim was
the center for the cattle industry of the section, and here the sav-
age- made several successful raids on stock. On July 10, 1868,
another attempt was made to drive off the herds that were being
watched near Ephraim, but this time the young men of the town,

CUSTOMS AND LEGENDS OF UTAH INDIANS

867

now pretty well armed, gave chase, and a sharp engagement fol-
lowed in which the Amerinds were badly beaten and the stolen
cattle recovered.

August 19, 1868, a treaty of peace was signed in Strawberry
Valley; this treaty, like other treaties made before, was soon
broken and raids, though less frequent than before, were made in
different localities; but murders had all but ceased, and well for
the defenseless settlers that it was so, because Governor J. W.
Shaffer had caused the troops to be withdrawn, and under his
order none were permitted to drill or bear arms except under the
direction of the U. S. Marshal. This order was issued September
15, 1870, and the Federal authorities did not succeed in consum-
mating a treaty of peace until September 7, 1872, when Geners
Morrow met the chiefs in conference at Mt. Pleasant.

John Ericsson was born in Sweden, in 1803. He was tire inventor
of the turret-ship Monitor, which distinguished itself iiythe American
civil war and inaugurated a new era in naval warfares Serving for a
time in the Swedish army, he removed to London in 182*. anH rn Wv

York in 1839. He died in 1889. A national monument has been

erected to him at Filipstad, Sweden, a portrait of winch we herewith
oresent It was sent by Elders J. Hill Johnson of Salt Lake, and Oluf
Monson of Pleasant Grove, Utah, whose portraits are m the fore-
ground.

J1

iiHi

0 sharp and many are the thorns of life,
From youth till age their pains with us abide.

0 deep the wounds oft made from years o r strife;
With smiles we fain this aching pain would hide.

How many souls have felt the thorn of doubt,
Until pale fear has made of us a slave!

Then faded hopes but meet our gaze throughout,
And tears fall fast on dead ambition's grave

How oft a weariness of life is born!

Dark sorrow and despair our faith o'ercome;
Our hearts are pierced until, all bleeding, torn,

The weary senses with the pain grow numb.

And yet, some day the soul will struggle free,
As does the sun from out a great storm-cloud;

'Tis then the meaning of life's thorns we'll see,
When with immortal wisdom we're endowed.

Hope.

\

W^k

The Artist vs. the Poet

BY ALFRED LAMBOURNE

The question has often been asked — What is the relative dif-
ficulty in the attainment of a position of supreme height in the two
fields — Art and Literature? Is it as grand, is it as difficult, to
become a great artist, as it is to become a great poet? and what is
the relative influence of each ? Would two minds of equal power,
one using the medium of the brush for expression, the other the
pen, receive the same amount of recognition from the public, were
their efforts alike successful? And would they make an equal
impression upon the thought of the age?

To the second of these questions there seems to be, logicall)
one answer that it is purely a matter of individual taste. To the
master-mind of Goethe, the two fields of labor appeared equally
grand. His genius could not judge between them, and that he
became a poet instead of an artist, was, as we all know, the result
of mere accident. In deciding the third question, no one gift has
ever made a great artist, in the true sense of the word. His work
has been the result of a full development of the ideal, the percep-
tive, the reflective, the mechanical and, in the highest instances, of
the moral organs of the brain. In addition to the ideal, the percep-
tive and assimilating faculties, then, an artist must possess those
that will also give him rare technical skill. His thoughts can
not be at once transferred to canvas, but must, oftentimes, wait
upon a slow manipulative process. He must have the power to
hold fast his thought, while guiding it through some slow, or while
inventing some new, mode of expression. In fact, the entire scope
— the fulness of the human intellect — is necessary for the achieve-
ment of such work as that done by Michael Angelo, Kaulbach
and Gustave Dore.

Take the first and the last of the three artists we have men-
tioned, and see not only how vast were the stores of knowledge
they employed, but also how deep and far their thoughts reached
into the problems of existence. Their works demonstrate for us

870 IMPROVEMENT ERA

that true art is never the result of ambition, that feverish desire
for popularity, such as marks the greater part of our modern art
work; but, thai it is either the outgrowth of admiration in the
presence of nature; deep-felt emotion, under the questionings of
life and fate, or the desire to express some message, or give
answer to questions, thrust upon us from out the domain of the
unknown.

There is a prominent fact in regard to the universal talents
of artists, and that is, not only are they often fine painters, sculp-
tors and architects at one and the same time, hut they are often
excellent poets hesides. Michael Angelo is a noble example of this,
as designer of St. Peter's Cathedral, sculptor of the statue of
Moses, painter of the "Last Judgment" and writer of some of
the most exquisite sonnets of his time. Something akin to this
is seen in the works of the French artist Dore. In invention
he appeared inexhaustible; in comprehension, limitless. Look
what a vast scope, what a range of thought is expressed in his
life's work ! Entering thoroughly into the minds of the greatest
authors of modern times, see how he interprets them for us ! See
how he takes his stand by the side of Dante, in his marvelous
illustrations to the ''Divine Comedy;" and by Milton, in those to
'Taradise Lost!" Look in succession at the grandeur of the
illustrations to the "Idyls of the King;" the weird, unearthly
scenes in Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner ;" the solemn, rich land-
scapes of "Atala" and the awful, almost heart-chilling, interpre-
tations of the "Raven" of Edgar A. Poe. From the deepest
tragedy he can pass at will to the broadest, the most subtle humor,
as the "Don Quixote" amply shows. His sympathy with child-life
is none the less marked than his other qualities, and of all artists
who has so perfectly mastered the principles of the grotesque?
In sculpture he was as eminently successful. Not a sculptor of
France, but would be proud could he but claim the designing
of that awe-inspiring group of "Love and Fate." In whatever
direction his hand and brain were employed, like wonders were
achieved. Through all the range of literature, can a name be
found that suggests more varied qualities of mind, or one of
broader scope?

To follow this subject further.

William Blake, who made the famous illustrations to the

THE ARTIST VS. THE POET 871

"Book of Job," was a poet of great ability ; as witness the exquisite
verses called "The Garden of Love." Washington Allston, the
American painter, was, also, the author of several poems likely
to live through many coming years, and D. Gabriel Rossetti, of
the English school, is as fine a poet as he is a painter. I lis
"Blessed Damozel" takes rank with all poems of a similar nature,
while many of his minor poems are marked by the highest genius.
Rare, indeed, is it that the poet can turn with like success, to walk
in the realms of art.

A desire to dim the golden aureola of the poet — what base
ingratitude ! To attempt it — what presumptuous folly ! My
thought is not to exalt the artist to the lowering of the poet, nor
to make critical comparisons between the respective merits of
poetry and the painter's or the sculptor's art. That, indeed, were
odious. My aim is to point out the artist's intellectual capacity ;
his position in the world as a worker, a thinker and a teacher.

The artist is generally quick in his appreciation of the work
of his contemporary poet ; much of his work is often done to inter-
pret him. But after we have examined the sympathy felt by the
artist for the writer — his struggles in establishing new standards
of taste — let us look at the reverse side. There we will find an
almost total absence of reciprocity in appreciation or aid. Words-
worth, keenest-eyed of modern poets, was apparently dead to the
work of the best landscape painters of his clay. Sir George Beau-
mont, that self-elected dictator of the fine arts, receives recogni-
tion from him, vide "Elegiac Stanzas, Suggested by a Picture of
Peel Castle in a Storm." The work of B. R. Haydon, Esq., calls
forth a sonnet, and there is also a sonnet called "Upon the Sight
of a Beautiful Picture,'; but in spite of this, he seems to have
been ignorant of the fact that the landscape painters of England
had begun to approach and interpret nature in a manner such
as had never been clone before, and were struggling against the
affected taste of the age, as regards landscape, as he himself, and
Scott, and Byron, and Shelley were compelled to do.

Few of all the men that are supreme in literature understand
those who are supreme in art. What did Scott, with all of his
word-painting, know of the genius of Turner? Victor Hugo,
judging by his written words, can think of no one in art but
Ancrelo and Rembrandt, and even makes constantly false allusions

872 IMPROVEMENT ERA

to the work of the latter, such as "Rembrandt painting with a
palette all bedaubed in the sun's rays," a most faulty expression,
for although Rembrandt does indeed put a ray of light stealing
in somewhere in his pictures, it is not their main point. His
palette, it should rather be said, was bedaubed with night, for his
pictures are the mystery of darkness.

Byron understood but little of art ; of painting he said : "Of
all the arts, depend upon it, it is the most false and affected."
Sculpture he understood a little better, paying it several tributes
in verse, the best known of which are those addressed to the Dy-
ing Gladiator, in "Childe Harold." Shelley upon the subject of
art may be said to be silent, at least in verse ; and Elizabeth Bar-
rett Browning, truthful and just as she generally is, when she
speaks of painting, is all at sea, with the rest of them.

The great lights of literature pay homage, in words im-
mortal, to other great lights in the firmament of literature. Not
an artist has breathed who has had such encomiums as those
that have been laid at the feet of Shakespeare. Jonson, Milton,
Dryden, Goethe, Carlyle, have each offered words of praise. Nor
must we forget, last though not least, the stupendous offering
of Victor Hugo, whose marvelous summary of Shakespeare's
genius — his place in the gallery of immortelles — is without a paral-
lel for force and power. Raffaelle, Angelo, Titian, Correggio,
Da Vinci — these, perhaps, have been extolled the highest. And,
later, Turner, the English landscape painter, in whose praise Rus-
kin, the art seer, penned his fervid descriptions, pouring forth
his panegyrics "with that almost Roman severity of conception
and expression which enables him to revel in the most gorgeous
language, without ever letting it pall upon the reader's taste by
affection of over lusciousness," placing Turner side by side with
Veralum and Shakespeare, "equal stars in the annals of the light
of England. By Shakespeare, humanity was unsealed to you ;
by Veralum, the principles of nature ; by Turner, her aspect, lift-
ing the veil from the face of nature" — but then Ruskin is also an
artist.

Art has not the same chance of reaching the hearts of the
many, that poetry has. There are thousands — nay, tens of thous-
ands of homes in which there is a well-selected library of books,
giving a perfect conception of the various life-work of the most

THE ARTIST VS. THE POET 873

eminent authors of all ages, but in which there may not be a single
work of art that would give an adequate conception of even one
great artist of even the present age. To get the same knowledge
of art it would be necessary for the possessor of such a library
to visit the art centers— the many galleries of England, France,
Italy and Germany, and even there, under ordinary circumstances,
the knowledge of art obtained by him would be but fragmentary,
compared with the lasting impressions made by the calm and delib-
erate reading of authors, year after year, at home.

Early impressions influence us through life. And here the
poet and the artist may be said to stand equal. Youth is the age
of poetical impressions, but the young are also fond of pictures.
The means to gratify both passions are generally near at hand,
though not in equal proportions. As shown in the foregoing para-
graph, the book of poetry is easily reached; the good work of art
not so much so. It naturally follows that literature is better
understood by the young than art, and that the poet is nearer
to the hearts of the peole than the artist. In the seclusion of the
library, or by the winter fireside, we can commune with the spirit
of Milton ; look with him upon the awful scenes of pandemonium,
or the blissful glades of Paradise. With him we can stoop to the
depths, or rise to the heights ; but with England's ideal painter,
Martin, we have no such privilege ; the very nature of his work de-
bars him from us. We can not look upon his large canvases of
"Satan in Council," the "Plains of Heaven," or the "Bower of
Eve," and yet, after all disparagements, those are glorious produc-
tions. It is only the few who are familiar with those works, and
consequently by the few only are they understood and appreciated.

The same comparisons can be made between Germany's great-
est poet and painter — Goethe and Kaulbach. Those were men of
equal merit in their respective fields, but their work is by no means
equally well known. We are all familiar with the drama of
"Faust," the "Sorrows of Werter," and all those other outpour-
ings of Goethe's genius. Yet how many, outside of Germany at
least, are familiar with the cartoons of Kaulbach— any of the
works of his mighty mind and skillful hand? Still, what could
excel for grandeur of conception his "Hunnen Schlacht"—
Battle of the Huns, or, for analysis of human nature, that haunt-
ing picture called "The Mad House?" His design for the frieze

874 IMPROVEMENT ERA

on the New Museum at Berlin is a marvel. Thereupon are
shown, under the guise of childhood, the intellectual development
of man, his hopes, his fears and his passions. Kaulbach was a
teacher whose works should be known in every home.

Byron and Scott ! Who has not heard of them ? Have not
their ideal creations become almost a reality? The influence they
wielded, and still wield, is not to be estimated. They are known
alike in the palace and the cottage. But not more than one in a
thousand of those who speak the English tongue knows of the
world of beauty and grandeur created or delineated by their con-
temporary, Turner, although he stands like a giant in the domain
of modern art. His work — in landscape art — may be said to oc-
cupy a place, like the volume of Aeschylus, in the library of the
Marquis de Mirabeau — alone; his brush being more than equiv-
alent for those of all his brother artists, and the contemporary de-
scriptive writers of his day.

Let us come nearer home.

The name Longfellow is a household word; his romance of
"Hyperion," his poems of "Hiawatha" and "Evangeline" are
household treasures. But how few there are who speak of the
glowing and poetic canvases of Frederick E. Church, one of the
finest of America's painters ; indeed, one of the finest landscape
painters of the world? Yet surely he ought to be better known.
His lovely picture of "The Icebergs," those of the volcanoes of
"Chimborazo" and "Cotopaxi," realize for us the weird splendor
of the frozen North, and the sensuous beauty of the South. The
"Niagara Falls" and the "yEgean Sea" are no less splendid
achievements, and America could justly feel proud of them. What
inference must be drawn from all this, but that an artist and a
poet of equal powers have not the same chance of becoming en-
deared to the many, and that the work of the former influence
less than the latter the thought of his age ? The poet then for the
many, the artists for the few. Especially does this remark apply
to the lesser lights in art. Indeed many artists of genuine talent,
are known only to a small circle of admirers, those immediately
around them, while men of inferior talent in literature are known
throughout the land. The magazine, of course, is the great dis-
seminator of all classes of literature.

If we take the three graces, as Music, Poetry and

THE ARTIST VS. THE POET 875

Art are sometimes called, we will find the order in which

they are named to represent their respective popularity

Music first, Poetry second, Art third. If we reverse the
order, we have the relative degree of difficulty in understanding
them — Art greatest, Poetry second, Music least, Poetry occupy-
ing the connecting link in each scale. Music appeals at once to
the heart without requiring knowledge of any kind. A beauti-
ful poem often requires much education to thoroughly appreciate
it. To estimate either the "Iliad" or "Siegfried's Saga" at their
true worth, calls for at least some understanding of the Greek
myths and the mythology of the Northern nations. Many paint-
ings of the great masters, whether in landscape or figure, demand
a cultured taste, or a keen observation of nature before half their
beauties can be felt or understood. Of course, there is art that
is simple and popular, such as the work of Birket Foster, the
delineator of English rural life, or Landseer, or Rosa Bonheur —
those inimitable painters of animals, or of Thomas Faed, who
has painted so perfectly the cottage life of Scotland ; but this does
not affect the main questions. Nothing that they have painted is
as well known, or has reached the heart of the public, like the
"May Queen" of Tennyson, or the "Elegy Written in a Country
Church-yard," of Thomas Gray. The very acme of popularity
is reached when simple music lends its aid to simple verse, as in
"Home, Sweet Home." Again, there is music thoroughly difficult
to appreciate, but still the relationship remains the same. "II
Trovatore" is less difficult to interpret than "Manfred;" that
again, less than Holman Hunt's "Light of the World."

How perishable, too, is the most beautiful work of the artist,
and even of the architect, in comparison with that of the poet and
the dramatist. Over a gulf of twenty-five centuries, the words
of Homer come to us as when they were first sung, but only a
wreck remains of the Parthenon. His portraits of Jupiter and
Minerva still live for us, but the Olympian Jove and the Pallas of
Phidias we see no more. The glowing description of Juno and
her couch of flowers is as fresh as ever. The Venus Anadyomene
of Apelles, is now but a dream. We still have tragedies of
Aeschylus and Sophocles, and poems of Ovid, and comedies of
Terence, but the Elgin Marbles are now but disfigured fragments.
Yet, if poetry chronicle the deeds of heroes, sing the praise of
beauty and give "to airy nothings a local habitation and a name,"

H76

IMI'Ki )\l Ml NT I:K.\

art covers the earth with palaces and majestic cathedrals, carves
the statue, covers the wall with glorious paintings, and keeps be-
fore our cvis the features of beloved ones gone. Between art and
poetry there can be n<> strife, only sweet companionship, giving
to each other loving aid, and, to use the exquisite simile of
Keats, blending the thoughts of its greatest votaries, as the per-
fume of the violet blends with that of the rose.

G. N. Child, state director for Utah of the National Education
Association. Mr. Child is one of Utah's leading educators, having
been identified with the educational activities of the state for the
past twenty years as teacher, principal, superintendent and super-
visor. He is at present grammar grade supervisor of the Salt
Lake City public schools and president of the Utah Education
Association. Mr. Child's early education was received in the
public schools of the state and in the Brigharti Young University.
I le has a well established student habit which keeps him informed
on the educational problems of the day and in close touch with
the organizations and movements for improvement.

Education in Utah

BY LEVI EDGAR YOUNG, M, A.

"he story of Utah's educational development is a dramatic
one and stands out as one of the most interesting subjects in
American History. While the State ranks only third in literacy
among the States of the Union, there are, nevertheless, more fac-
tors entering into our intellectual development than in any other
state. These statements, I know, are sweeping, but may be
proved from our school and social statistics. The people of Utah
have always remembered that education stands for more than
school training and books. With them, education has meant the
process that begins at birth and continues not only until the end
of life, but for eternity. It is the process by which civilization is
obtained. Educational activity has been the dominant force in
Utah's history. There is a reason for this. Utah was settled by
the "Mormon" people. With them, it has always been a cardinal
principle that the "glory of God is intelligence," and intelligence,
therefore, is the glory of man. They firmly believe that :

"Whatever principles of intelligence we attain unto in this life,
it will rise with us in the resurrection;

"And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this
life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have
so much the advantage in the world to come." (Doctrine and Cove-
nants.)

The inventory of the educational resources of Utah have
been what Dr. Samuel T. Dutton, of Columbia University, says
must be the resources for all communities that are aiming at the
higheSt in intellectual and moral pursuits. These resources are:
First, homes, churches, schools, and libraries ; second, newspapers,
magazines, museums, the drama, industry, and government ; third,
those intellectual and ethical aptitudes of the people which make it
possible for them to be quickened and influenced in the right
direction.

Looking at the first group, we see the "four institutions which,
in their educative powers, are greatest." I wish to speak of these
separately.

First as to the home. Among the "Mormon" people, the
home has been the centre of religious, social, and intellectual life.
In fact, Utah has always been noted for its beautiful homes from
the earliest days to the present. Even when the entire country
was but a waste, the people made their surroundings beautiful by

srs

IMPROVEMENT ERA

the planting of trees and flowers, and it was a custom, to dedicate

every home to God. Their
history shows that the peo-
ple have lived in homes
where parents have been
temperate, just, and kind;
and where children have
been taught that work,
honest work, is the activ-
ity most pleasing in the
sight of God. The old
homes in Utah were cen-
tres of thrift and a high
standard of morality. Chil-
dren were supplied with
books and pictures, music
and games ; and were
brought in touch with the
best their parents could ob-
tain. The effect of all these
forces are seen today in the
Utah home. In the city of
Beaver, thirty-five miles
from the railroad, I find
that eight out of every ten
families hame some musical
instrument. Eighty per
cent of the families sub-
scribe to some first class
magazine, and in the par-
lors of ten families, I
found copies of the Atlantic Monthly, The Century Magazine,
Scribncr's Magazine, and other noted periodicals. In this, same
city, I found six subscribers to Die Wochc, the famous German
publication. Children of the little city were learning good music ;
and the people took over an old United States Arsenal, and turned
it into a first class high school. Beaver is typical of many towns
and cities in Utah. By comparison, I might add here that there
is more provincialism found within twenty miles of Boston than
may be seen in the entire State of Utah. In the Utah home,
children have received that training which has determined their
future careers. The home has been the center of all good thought
and activity ; it has been and is now purely American, and is the
centre for the teachings of the Divine Master.

As to the Church, it has been a constructive force in our his-
tory. Religion has directed the people in all of their work, and
has affiliated itself with all the pursuits of life, and all the social
forces in their history. To summarize their religious convictions,

DR. JOHN R. PARK

For many years head of the University of

Utah, and first State Superintendent of

Public Instruction

EDUCATION IN UTAH 879

one might say that they believe in God the eternal Father and in
his Son Jesus Christ; that the kingdom of God will be brought
to earth, when we have redeemed it, and made it beautiful and
ready for God by our work and constant moral and intellectual
progress.

It is, however, of the schools and libraries I wish to enlarge
upon in this paper.

Utah has had a school system from the beginning of her
history, and in 1851, the first school law was passed which pro-
vided for a uniform system of schools as far as possible, and pro-
vided in section 3 that every town and city support their schools
by publigrcaxation. Each county was divided into school districts,
and this district became the political and ecclesiastical unit of
government. It is interesting to follow the history of these dis-
tricts and note the interest the people took in education by en-
forcing the law and supporting their public schools by taxes. The
Territory of Utah extended over a vast area at that period ; in
fact from Colorado on the east to the crest of the Sierra Nevada
Mountains on the west. Towns were far apart, and communica-
tion difficult. And yet we find the Chancelor and Board of Re-
gents of the University of Deseret directing the schools through
the county courts, and working for system and proper training in
them all. The ecclesiastical district called the "ward" was always
the unit, and in every ward, from its beginning, it was the rule to
build the meeting and school house immediately after locating
homes and planting crops. It appears from sources that the
schools were in a thriving condition in 1850, three years after the
advent of the "Mormon" pioneers, for the Deseret Neivs, Nov. 27,
of that year, has this to say :

"Common schools were beginning in all parts of the city for the
winter; and plans for the construction of school houses in every ward
were being made, with a view for a general system of school houses
throughout the city. One plan had already been submitted, which
comprised three large school rooms, a large hall for lecturing a pri-
vate study, reading room and library. A Parent or High School began
on the 11th of November: terms, thirty shillings per quarter, under
the direction of Chancelor Spencer. It is expected that teachers
crenerally will have access to this school, and through them a system
of uniformity will be established for conducting schools throughout
the valleys Elder Woodruff has arrived with nearly two tons of
school books. Donations from the states are already arriving in the
shape of scientific instruments and other apparatus for the benefit of
the University; also valuable books for the library. Mr. W. I. Ap-
pleby is the librarian. . , , , . , ,
P "A committee was appointed to superintend the enclosing of the
University grounds one mile square east of the city, and the erection
of good s&tone wall around them, as soon as possible Our corre-
spondent says that public meetings were being held in all parts of
the city attending to and providing for the interests of education; and
hat he present winter is expected to be one of intellects advantage
to the people, which they seemed determined to improve.

880

IMPROVEMENT ER.-

And in 1852, Robert L. Campbell, the Secretary of the Board
of Regents of the University, says :

"We are happy to report that many select schools are in successful
operation combining the languages and the higher branches of educa-
tion generally. Still there is room for a more full development of the
mental energies of our youth in their advancement in the classics,
history, mathematics, and the polite literature of the ages, by which
native talent and giant intellects of our young men who will shortly
grace this stage of action may form a prominent phalanx of strength
and wisdom in our nation's councils; who will guide the wheels of
government of our rising territory in her glorious achievements for
liberty, of universal empire over mind, and the blessings of her free
and flourishing institutions."

A TYPE OF CABIN SCHOOL FIRST BUILT IN UTAH.

In the same document, Mr. Campbell reports that the County
Court was seeing to the building of new school houses and the
proper equipment of them.

In 1855, Governor Brigham Young, in addressing the Terri-
torial Legislature, says :

"Educational interests have flourished hitherto, with but little aid
or encouragement from the Legislative Assembly. Should not this
subject be taken under advisement by this Legislature, and some well
organized system be adopted, which will confer the blessing of at
least a common school education upon every child, rich or poor, bond
or free, in the territory, and which will establish and keep in operation
at least one school where the higher branches are taught?

EDUCATION IN UTAH 881

"I am aware that much has already been done and great good
effected by private enterprise throughout the settlements generally.
Though I am sanguine that no territory, so young as this, can boast
of so many or such good school houses and schools; still there is a
lack, much remains to be done. The Legislature has appropriated
comparatively nothing for this object, and the appropriations of land
by the general Government are at present, and a great share always
will be, entirely unavailable.

"None is so much interested in this matter as ourselves. It would
therefore seem to be almost imperative upon this Assembly to extend
their most reliable aid and influence for the promotion of learning.
And now, while we have peace and quietness in all borders, is oppor-
tune time to lay a foundation for the instruction of our children which
shall grow with our growth, and strengthen with our strength, and
extend it's influence around the children of the poorest and humblest
citizen, as well as the most opulent and wealthy."

The Legislative Assembly receiving this message amended
the school law, passed at the previous session, which divided the
counties into new school districts, over which a board of trustees
elected by the people should preside. A local tax should be levied,
and teachers examined by the local board. Examples are numer-
ous as to how the many different towns and settlements lived up
to the law. The district of North Ogden was organized in 1851,
in the autumn of which the first school was opened. The school
house was built of pine logs, but this gave way to a much better
and more commodious building, erected in 1856, by donation and
local taxation. At this same time, the rooms were furnished with
home-made desks, stoves, maps, and a small library. In the fall
of 1851, a school house was built at the little town of Morgan on
the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad, and this was super-
seded in 1855 by a far better building, erected by local taxation.
Again in 1874, another school house was built, the people of the
town paying for it by donation and taxes. One of the most inter-
esting examples we have of the enthusiasm of the people for the
maintenance of a school in their district is that of East Mill Creek
in Salt Lake County. In the spring of 1848, several of the pio-
neers built cabins on Mill Creek, on the north side of the stream.
Among the most prominent of the settlers was John Neff, who
built the first flour mill in the Territory. In March, 1856, the
district was organized for school purposes, and the first school
house, erected by donation and local taxation, was built. The logs
for it were hauled from the canyon nearby, and were dove-tailed
and held together by wooden pegs. The furniture consisted of
"rough slab' benches/' and a teacher's desk made of slabs from a
neighboring saw-mill.

" The reader naturally asks here as to the first school in Utah,
and herein lies an interesting bit of western history.

The first school in Utah was opened in October, 1847. _ The
teacher was Mary Jane Dilworth (Hammond), and an old military

882

IMPROVEMENT ERA

tent shaped like an ordinary Indian wigwam served as a school
room. Rough logs were used for seats, and the teacher's desk
was an old camp stool, which had been brought across the plains.
Maria Dilworth Nebeker says in her autobiography :

"I attended the first school in Utali taught by my sister, Mary
Jane, in a small round tent seated with logs. The school was opened
just three weeks after our arrival in the valley. The first morning
we gathered before the door of the tent, and in the midst of our play,
my sister called us and said, 'Come children, come; we will begin
now.' There were just a few of us, I think only nine or ten. One
of the brethren came in, and opened the school with prayer. I re-
member one thing he said. It was to the effect that 'we be good
children and he asked God that the school would be so blessed that
we all should have his holy light to guide us into all truth.' The
first day, Marv Jane taught us the twenty-third Psalm, and we sang
much, and played more."

Mary Jane Dilworth (Hammond), Utah's first school teacher,

AS THE MORMONS FOUND UTAH

wa> of Quaker parentage, and was born in Westchester County,
Pennsylvania, July 29, 1831. Her parents were Caleb and Eliza
Dilworth, devout in their religion and steadfast in the adherence
to principle. Caleb Dilworth's ancestors had taken an active
part in the settlement of Pennsylvania, and his father was soldier
in the colonial army under George Washington. The family be-
came independent, in fact had some means, and early in the for-
ties, they emigrated to the "Mormon" centre of Nauvoo, Illinois.
They went through many of the harrowing persecutions of their
people, and with the main body of "Mormons" made their way to

EDUCATION IN UTAH 883

Winter Quarters on the Missouri River, where they did their share
in making preparation for the long journey of their people to the
Rocky Mountains. While at Winter Quarters, Miss Dilworth
taught a school in a little rock house. In 1847, she left with her
people for "the promised land of the far West." There were
some fifteen hundred souls in the company, under the personal
direction and command of Jedediah M. Grant. Near Grand
Island, the company was met by Brigham Young, who was re-
turning to Winter Quarters. It was here that he "set Miss Dil-
worth apart to teach a school in the Old Fort." W'hile on the
plains the "Mormon" emigrants taught their children, and we
have accounts of how they were assembled at times for the
purpose of learning from some good teacher, the leading facts of
history and geography. In fact, education in Utah began on the
plains, for the people had been admonished by Brigham Young
to continue the spirit of education that had been developed in the
beautiful city of Nauvoo in the State of Illinois. They had
maintained schools there, and had organized a university. The
city had been pronounced by hundreds of travelers as one of the
most moral cities in the Union, and far and wide was it noted for
its civic life. In 1847, an epistle was issued to the people when
they were encamped upon the banks of the Missouri River, in
which Brigham Young said:

"It is very desirable that all the Saints should improve every
opportunity of securing at least a copy of every valuable treatise on
education — every book, map, chart, or diagram that may contain in-
teresting, useful, and attractive matter, to gain the attention of chil-
dren, and cause them to love to learn to read; and also every his-
torical, mathematical, philosophical, geographical, geological, astro-
nomical, scientific, practical, and all other variety of useful and inter-
esting writings, maps, etc., to present to the general church recorder,
when they shall arrive at their destination, from which important' and
interesting matter may be gleaned to compile the most valuable works
on every science and subject, for the benefit of the rising generation.
We have a printing press, and any one who can take good printing or
writing paper to the valley will be blessing themselves and the Church.
We also want all kinds of mathematical instruments, together with all
rare specimens of natural curiosities and works of art that can be
gathered."

Those early days in Utah not only saw primary schools, but
in 1850 was opened the first university west of the Missouri River.
The record of that "Parent school" has come down to us, and is
a valuable document to show the State's early educational develop-
ment. It tells us that the university "is for the training of teach-
ers, and to bring our boys and girls in touch with the progressive
thought anfl educational activities of the age."

Down through the years before the advent of the railroad and
telegraph, the people maintained their schools and those other

884

IMPROVEMENT ERA

factors that have entered into our educational development.
School houses were built of rock and adobe, although the first
schools were as a rule, housed in log cabins. In those days, all
co-operated in building, and many school houses were erected upon
the co-operative plan. An interesting example of this method of
work, which all economists now pronounce as the best and most
effective and democratic kind of work, is found in the records of
the Thirteenth Ward of Salt Lake City :

"Friday evening, Dec. 1, 1854. The inhabitants of the Thirteenth
ward met in the meeting house to consider the nature and extent of
the improvement of the school. * * * A. W. Babbitt spoke of the
benefits of the common school. * * * The plan of the main build-
ing was presented by T. O. Angell. All the brethren spoke in favor
of building the main house, the estimated cost of which would be
$11,770. Bishop Edward Hunter spoke of educating our children,
otherwise we were not worthy of them. A motion was passed pro-

THE OLD TWELFTH WARD SCHOOL HOUSE, SALT LAKE CITY
A Type of Building Erected by Co-operative Work

viding for the repair of the present building, the building of a new
fence, and the erection of outhouses. * * * The brethren were
asked to co-operate in this work, and to put in a certain amount of
their time in promoting the work."

ft
Many beautiful buildings were erected before the railroad,
buildings that were plain, but beautiful in their massiveness, sta-
bility, and simplicity. The old Twelfth Ward school in Salt Lake

EDUCATION IN UTAH 885

City is an example of these characteristics. Not only schools
were maintained from the beginning of their history, but the
"Mormon" people have been great readers and collectors of books,
and today, few homes in Utah are without a good library.

"In 1851, the first extensive library was brought by ox teams to
this state. It had been purchased in New York City by Dr. John M.
Bernhisel, and was a wonderful collection of books. There were the
works of Shakespeare, Milton, Bacon, Byron, Homer, Juvenal, Lucre-
tius, Virgil, Euripides, Sophocles, Plato, Montaigne, Tacitus, Spenser,
Herodotus, Goldsmith, and many others of the great masters of the
world's best literature. The library received copies of the New York
Herald, New York Evening Post, the Philadelphia Saturday Courier, and
the North American Review. Of the scientific works there were New-
ton's Principia, Herschel's Outlines of Astronomy, and Von Humboldt's
Cosmos. The treatises on philosophy included the works of John
Stuart, Mill, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and Emanuel Swedenborg.
These are but a few of the names found in the list. The books were
read by practically everybody, as it was customary for the people to
meet in the several ward assembly halls, and to discuss the substance
of the best works on literature, philosophy, science, and history. This
was the movement that gave rise to the establishment a few years
later of the Mutual Improvement Associations throughout Utah."

In every ward of Utah, a library was established in connec-
tion with the Sunday Schools and Mutual Improvement associa-
tions from the very earliest days. The Twelfth Ward Library in
Salt Lake City contained some of the best of the classics, and
many of the books were deposited in the library as early as 1855.
The cities passed resolutions and laws creating libraries in the
early sixties, and in 1866, Provo, Lehi, Nephi, Salt Lake City,
Manti, Beaver, Fillmore, and other cities had their public libraries.
The following unique law passed in 1866, providing for a library
in the town of Deseret is significant and tells a story that is well
for us to remember :

An ACT to Incorporate the Deseret City Library Association
Sec. 1. — Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly
of the Territory of Utah: That Thomas Memmott, John Rowell,
Henry Roper, Isaac W. Pierce, Martin Littlewood and their associates
and successors are hereby constituted a body corporate, to be known
and styled Deseret City Library Association, and shall have power to pur-
chase, receive and hold property real and personal, to sue and be sued,
plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended in all courts of law
and equity, and to do all things that may be proper to carry into effect
the objects of the Association, by establishing a library of books,
maps, charts and scientific instruments, connecting therewith a read-
ing room and lectures. And the above named persons are hereby
appointed a Board of Directors of said Association, until superseded
as provided in the following section.

Sec. 2. — A Board of seven Directors shall be elected by the mem-
bers of said Association on the second Monday of March, eighteen
hundred and sixty-six, and biennially thereafter on said day, who
shall hold office two years, and until their successors are duly elected;

886 IMPROVEMENT ERA

and they shall have power to appoint a president, secretary, correspond-
ing secretary, treasurer and librarian and define their duties, and also
to enact such by-laws as may be necessary to do all business of the
Association. A majority may form a quorum to do business, and
may fill any vacancy in the Board, until the next regular election.

Sec. 3. — This Association may raise means by the sale of shares
and by contribution and donation, for the purchase of books, maps,
charts, etc., and for leasing or erecting suitable buildings for the
library, reading rooms and lectures.

Sec. 4. — Conditions of membership, admission to the library, read-
ing rooms and lectures and the loaning of books or other property
shall be as provided by the by-laws of said Association.

Approved Jan. 17, 1866.

As a result of this early library movement, Utah contains
today some most beautiful buildings, where the public may obtain
books free of charge, and where they may go to study and read.
There can be no doubt but that the "Mormon" people have been
great readers.

In the clays before the railroad, the schools and general prog-
ress of the people were noted by many writers from the eastern
states. In fact the testimonies of these writers show a rapid
progress of the people intellectually and socially. Among them
are Howard Stansbury, Captain of the Corps of Topographical
Engineers, United States Army; Captain John W. Gunnison,
United States Army ; Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale of the
United States Navy, and later envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary to Austria-Hungary ; the Rev. A. M. Stewart of
the Presbyterian church ; Col. D. C. Dodge, chief engineer in
building the Union Pacific Railroad ; Leland Stanford of Califor-
nia ; in fact a host of famous Americans have noted our early edu-
cational development.

Before the railroad, the theatre was built, and dramatic art
was encouraged from the beginning of our history. There were
scientific and philosophical societies ; the Seventies of the "Mor-
mon" church maintained a Hall of Science, where meetings' were
held in which the "brethren" discussed the affairs of the day, and
read scientific, religious, and philosophical treatises ; there was a
Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society as early as 1856,
and in every ward of Utah, there were established literary and
religious societies called the Young Men's and Young Ladies'
Mutual Improvement Associations. Thousands of boys and girls,
and parents as well, have been enrolled in these organizations, and
they have been a potent factor in our educational history. In fact
they are unique, and at no time in American history has there
been anything like them. Today, they still are doing a wonderful
work among the young, and have an enrollment of nearly 100.000
members. In one of the meetings of a young ladies' meeting held
in 1869, a lecture was given on the "Importance of Bible Study,"

EDUCATION IN UTAH

887

a short talk on the life of Shakespeare, and a third party read and
explained the play of Hamlet. These exercises were interspersed
with music. At a Mutual Improvement meeting held in a remote
town of Utah recently, the people listened to a talk on Goethe's
life, together with an explana-
tion of his Faust. During the
program, a young musician
played parts from Gounod's
Faust, and one young lady
sang Wagner's "Evening
Star" from Tanhauser.

So from the beginning of
their history, have the people
encouraged intellectual devel-
opment in many, many differ-
ent ways. Art has been en-
couraged, music in its best
form has been fostered. Han-
del's "Messiah" was given in
Salt Lake in 1866 to crowded
houses. The leading artists
of the world have sung in our
Tabernacle, Utah's children,
like Maud Adams, have won
distinction upon the stage, and
M. M. Young and C. E. Dallin
have international reputation
in the realm of art.

When the University of Deseret took a forward step in 1867-
68, it announced a high standard of courses. From the catalogue
of 1870-71, I take the following prescribed outline. How many
educators and teachers of today are prepared for the studies? It
shows the high regard in which the intellectual studies were held.
Truly with these people, the "glory of God and man is intelli-
gence :"

FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE IN FILLMORE

Built of red standstone and hand-hewn
timber, with wooden pegs for nails

CLASSICAL STUDIES
"Freshman Year

"First Term. — Cicero (Orations), Latin Prose Composition, Xenohpon's Anabasis,
Greek Prose Composition, Higher Algebra completed, Natural Philosophy.

"Second Term. — Virgil's Aeneid, Latin Prose Composition, Xenophon's Anabasis,
Greek Prose Composition, Cubic and Biquadratic Equations, Natural Philosophy.

"Third Term. — Virgil's Aeneid, Latin Prose Composition, Homer's Iliad, Greek
Prose Composition, Geometry, Roman History.

"Fourth Term. — Virgil's Bucolics, Homer's Iliad, Greek Prose Composition, Greek
Testament (Gospels), Geometry, Roman History.

"Sophomore Year

"First Term. — Cicero de Senectute, and Horace, Xenophon's Memorabilia, Greek
Testament (Acts of the Apostles), Geometry completed, and Plane Trigonometry,
Zoology.

888 IMPROVEMENT ERA

/r> •"?ECv0No Term-— Livy anc* Terence, Demosthenes (Philippics'), Greek Testament
(Epistles), Spherical Trigonometry and Mensuration, and Surveying and Navigation
Zoology.

"Third Term. — Livy and Juvenal, Plato (Apology), Greek Testament (Epistles),
Analytical Geometry, Grecian History, Physiology.

"Fourth Term. — Tacitus (Germania and Agricola), Thucydides, Analytical Geom-
etry completed, Grecian History, Physiology.

"Junior Year

"First Term. — Differential Calculus, General Chemistry (inorganic), Rhetoric,
Political Economy.

"Second Term. — Integral Calculus, General Chemistry (organic), Rhetoric, Polit-
ical Economy.

"Third Term. — Astronomy, Practical Chemistry, Logic, Botany, Mental PhiloSophy.

"Fourth Term. — Astronomy, Practical Chemistry, Logic, Botany, Mental Phil-
osophy.

"Senior Year

"First Term. — English Literature, Natural Theology, Elements of Criticism, Moral
Philosophy.

"Second Term. — English Literature, Natural Theology, Elements of Criticism,
Moral Philosophy.

"Third Term. — Geology, Mineralogy, Analogy of Religion, International Law,
Constitution of the United States.

"Fourth Term. — Geology, Mineralogy, Analogy of Religion, International Law,
Constitution of the United States."

The schools of Utah were effective in their work, for from
the earliest statistics of the United States, we find that Utah's
educational standing has been exceptionally high. In fact so
clean has been Utah's system of government, so intellectual and
moral have been her people, that as early as 1869, the American
Presbyterian, printed in Philadelphia, had the following to say
from the pen of Rev. A. M. Stewart, who had spoken a few
months before in the "Mormon" Tabernacle:

"When driven from Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa, the
-wretched, starving, half-naked fugitives started on a pilgrimage, which
an army with banners dared not have attempted. * * * How,
under their condition, and without all perishing, they succeeded in
traversing those fifteen hundred miles of reputed desert, seems even
now a mystery. They settled, at length, upon a dry and apparently
barren soil, where thev hoped never again to see or be troubled with
intruders. * * * Whatever purposes the Almighty has to subserve
with this strange mass of people hereafter, he has already effected
purposes the most wise and beneficent, and for which no other agents
seemed fitted. * * * * Salt Lake City is the most quiet, orderly,
and best governed city in the world. Among the "Mormons" there is
no disorder or outbreak; no profanity or intemperance. The city on
the Sabbath is as quiet and orderly as a rural parish in Scotland pr
New England. Whatever disorder there may be is created by Gentile
intruders. * * * The court house and theatre are substantial
structures. ***** J3y such processes, coupled with economy,
industry, home manufacture, and consumption, that far inferior com-
munity numbering at present one hundred thousand, is fast becoming
one of the wealthiest' communities in the world."

Quite a testimony is this. I take it that Dr. Stewart is sin-
cere, for his church pronounced him one of the most honest of
men, and "a minister of grace in God's great cause."

The schools of Utah must have been productive of great

EDUCATION IN UTAH

889

results, for I find the following to be our educational standing in
comparison to other states of the Union in 1870:

Comparative Statistics

from Census of

United States, 1870

School At-
tendance,
5 tol8 yrs.

Illiteracy,
can't read
or write,
10 yrs. &
upwards

Pau-
pers

Insane

and

Idiotic

Con-
victs

Printing
and Pub-
lishing
Establish-
ments

Church
Edifices

Utah

35
31
30

21
25
27

24

11
26
10
9
12
40
10

6

31
45
59
55
23
41

5
16
17
20
23
35
22

3

9

9

12

11

9

19

14

6

9

7

11

11

14

19

17

14

12

12

District of Columbia

California

9
9

"In 1877, when the school population of Utah numbered 30,792, there was
invested in the Territory in school property the creditable sum of $568,984, being
about eighteen and one-half dollars per capita of the school population. In contrast
with this, take the amount per capita of their school population which some of the
States have invested in school property: North Carolina, $0.60; Louisiana, $3.00; Vir-
ginia about $2.00; Oregon less t^an $9.00; Wisconsin less than $11.00; Tennessee less
than $2.50; Delaware less than $13.00."

During the last decade of the nineteenth century, the public
school system of the entire United States was greatly improved

ONE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH BUILDINGS

upon. We find California, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Ver-
mont, New York, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri,
Nebraska, Maryland, and all the states of the South making great
headway in educational development. New school houses were
built, the standard of teaching was raised, and better scholarship
required of scholars and teachers. So in Utah. Great advance-
ment was made. All people contributed to the building of the
public school system, until today, we naturally ask, "How does
Utah stand in education among the states and territories of the

890 IMPROVEMENT ERA

Union?" The following table was compiled by Andrew S.
Draper, LL. D., and published some time ago in the Youth's
Companion. It will be interesting to note the place of Utah
among the other states of the Union in literacy :

"We have very exact information about the number of people in the United States
who are illiterates. By an "illiterate" we mean a person who is ten years old or more
and can not write in any language. It is generally true that if one can not write he
can not read.

"The proportion of illiterates is smaller than it used to be. In 1870 there were
200 illiterates to each 1,000 of population; in 1880 there were 170; in 1890 there were
133; in 1900 there were 107.

"The accompanying table will show the number of illiterates to each 1,000 people
in the various states in 1900.

"These figures are from the census, but a table from election returns showing the
number of illiterate voters per thousand people in each state is so nearly the same that
it confirms the substantial accuracy of the census figures.

"We have one full-grown man who can not read or write in every nine voters.
We have no tests of exact comparison, but there are related and authentic figures
which are more convincing than comforting.

ILLITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES

Iowa 23 South Dakota 50 Delaware 120

Nebraska 23 Maine 51 Nevada 133

Kansas 29 New York 55 Texas 145

Washington .■ 31 Oklahoma 55 Kentucky 165

Utah 31 North Dakota 56 Arkansas 204

Oregon 33 Vermont 58 Tennessee 207

Ohio 40 Massachusetts 59 Florida 219

Wyoming 40 New Jersey 59 Virginia 229

Minnesota 41 Connecticut 59 North Carolina 287

Illinois 42 Pennsylvania 61 Arizona 290

Michigan 42 Montana 61 Georgia 305

Colorado 42 New Hampshire 62 Mississippi 320

Indiana 46 Missouri 64 New Mexico 332

Idaho 46 Rhode Island 84 Alabama 340

Wisconsin 47 Maryland Ill couth Carolina 359

California 48 West Virginia 114 Louisiana 385

"The figures give the number of illiterate persons in each thousand of population,
as shown by the census of 1900."

Although Utah's school system today ranks among the best
in the world, it is far from what the ideals of the people wish for.
There is not only the public school system maintained by taxa-
tion, but the different religious denominations maintain their
schools, and it may be noted that the Latter-day Saints University
at Salt Lake City has possibly the highest standard of faculty of
any high school in the United States. The head of the institution
is Colonel Young, late of the corps of engineers. United States
army, and a graduate of the Military Academy at West Point,
and the noted universities of the world are represented in its
faculty, including Harvard, Chicago University, Oxford, Uni-
versity of Berlin, University of California, Cornell, and others.

As the public school system is the glory of the American
Republic, so is it the glory of Utah. The people of the State
pride themselves on their schools as they do on their high ideals
and desires to become rich in knowledge and power — that power
which is of light and high moral endeavor. Their school system
has been built up by the people as a whole. Not by one party,
one creed, one faction. The system has been formed by the union

EDUCATION IN UTAH

891

and co-operation of all sorts and conditions of people who have
come to a firm conviction and realization in heart that "all men
are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights." Utah has been an asylum for thousands of
the best people of Europe. Germans, Scandinavians, Scotch,
Irish, and the English have found their way to the far West, and
have been taught the rudiments of American citizenship, and in
becoming Americanized, they have learned the fundamental law
of all good government, namely, self-government. All the forces
they have been able to muster have been brought to influence the
better ideals and attainments, the best men, the different Christian
sects, the press, and the political parties, all have exerted a mould-
ing influence.

Our school system has grown by the acceptance and adapta-
tion of all the good things and best ideas of the world. Hun-
dreds of young men return to our state every year from abroad
to bring with them new ideals, new motives and incentives, new
plans for a better living. Books and pictures are purchased
abroad, and the average young man of Utah becomes acquainted
through his traveling with Goethe, Lessing, Herder, Corneille,
or Carlyle. Possibly no other state of the Union has so many
people abroad every year in comparison with her population as
has Utah. All this goes to make the people broad and conserva-
tive in life.

In Utah the idea of universal education was outlined from
the first. The circular letter issued by the chancelor of the Uni-
versity in 1850, certainly snaps of breadth and enthusiasm for all
that can be obtained for our intellectual advancement. In Utah
the children have been educated from the primary school upward.
The primary school came first, and in time the University was re-
established as the head of the public school system of the State.
In the United States we well realize that education owes little to
paternalism. So it is in Utah. No creed or organization has
control of the minds of the people. The people have promoted

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH BUILDINGS

892

IMPROVEMENT ERA

education from the first, and it has grown with their growth, and
gathered strength as the industrial and social conditions of the
people have become better. Our schools have been democratic
from the first, and all that is good and true in the world at large,
the people have tried to absorb. From the days of the overland
emigration by pony express to the time of the completion of the

ALL HALLOWS COLLEGE A CATHOLIC SCHOOL, SALT LAKE CITY

trans-continental railroad, and from the time of the advent of the
railroad to the present, Utah has been not only provincial but
cosmopolitan ; sectional yet national ; individual, yet loving the
influences of extraneous ideals and institutions.

The country has tended to create a hardy people, who hate
the dilettante pursuits and who love hard work. For years it
was a struggle for existence. Such a life could not produce
cowards or effeminates. The people of Utah have naturally bred
within them a love for the home, for humanity, and for God.
They are free from the conventionalities of older communities,
and are more given to. the belief that culture is not outward man-
ners but inward grace and honesty of purpose. They believe
that schools should produce citizens in the highest sense of the
term. In fact, their ideals are expressed by the immortal Jeffer-
son in his famous words before the Virginia legislature at one
time :

"To form the statesmen, legislators, and judges, on whom public
prosperity and individual happiness are so much to depend; to ex-

EDUCATION IN UTAH 893

pound the principles of government, the laws which regulate the inter-
course of nations, those formed municipally for our own government,
and a sound spirit of legislation, which, banishing all arbitrary and
unnecessary restraint on individual action, shall leave us free to do
whatever does not violate the equal rights of another; to harmonize
and promote the interests of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce,
and by well-informed views of political economy to give free scope
to public industry; to develop the reasoning faculties of our youth,
enlarge their minds, cultivate their morals, and instill into them pre-
cepts of virtue and order; to enlighten them with mathematical and
physical sciences, which advance the arts and administer to the health,
the subsistence, and the comfort of human life; and, finally, to form
them to habits of reflection and correct action, rendering them exam-
ples of virtue to others and of happiness within themselves— these are
the objects of that higher grade of education, the benefits and bless-
ings of which the legislature now propose to provide for the good and
ornament of their country, the gratification and happiness of their
fellow-citizens."

Upon her schools, Utah's future government depends. The
schools must produce men and women who are interested in the
government of the state. The youth of our state are to become
the legislators and the officials. They will be exepcted to exer-
cise the higher functions in the state according to the best of
American ideals. Native talent must be developed and character
building made the aim of our learning. Herein have the schools
their great mission.

Again the schools must influence for the building up of the
proper home environment. The youth must be taught that the
home is the centre where life is begun and where all that is best
emanates. We can never be a great and mighty commercial peo-
ple ; we can be a wise and good people. The big broad "God's
out-of-doors" must be appreciated, and the magnificent mountains,
lakes, and canyons, must influence us to very great ideals and to
very great actions. Our schools must teach us to come to a
realization of our best selves, and that the best life is the life that
finds its salvation not in formal Christianity and dogma, but in
the "Gospel of work and redemption." Our education must
revert, however, to the ideals of a generation ago, wherein it was
taught that the school is but one factor in life to make for the
better self. The school must make the whole setting of life worth
more, and develop that wisdom and broad judgment that make
good Christianity. They must give us that culture and education
described by Hamilton Wright Mabie in his Nature and Culture:

"For culture, instead of being an artificial or superficial accom-
plishment, is the natural and inevitable process by which a man copes
into possession of his own nature, and into real and fruitful relations
with the world about him. It is never taking on from without of
some grace or skill or knowledge; it is always an unfolding from
within into some new power; the flowering of some _ new quality
hitherto dormant; the absorption of some knowledge hitherto unap-

894

IMPROVEMENT ERA

propriated. The essence of culture is not possession of information
as one possesses an estate, but absorption of knowledge into one's
nature, so that it becomes bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.
It means the enrichment and expansion of the personality by the
taking into ourselves of all that can nourish us from without. Its
distinctive characteristic is not extent, but quality of knowledge; not

NEW HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING, FILLMORE, UTAH. COST $20,000

scope of activity, but depth of life. It is, in a word, the process by
which a man takes the world into his nature and is fed, sustained and
enlarged by natural, simple, deep relations and fellowship with the
whole order of things of which he is a part."

So each and all may take the divine injunction of the Talmud:

"Not thine to complete the work, neither art thou free to lay it
down."

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

LIBERTY PARK, THE WASATCH MOUNTAINS IN THE DISTANCE

Evolution of Education in Utah

BY DR. GEORGE H. BRIM HALL, PRESIDENT OF BRIGHAM YOUNG

UNIVERSITY

/ — The Spirit with Which We Have Grown

The builders of Utah have worked under the inspiration of
the thought that nothing is good enough that can be made better.
Even in the days of isolation one thousand miles beyond the border
line of civilzation the power of that idea was manifest on every
hand. The people of
Utah have always
been in a state of
healthy unrest. Not
the unrest of the
nomad, moving on at
the approach of the
first near neighbor ;
nor the unrest of the
fidgety, fault-finding
pessimist, but the un-
rest of up-and-at-it.

During the early
days of Utah, prog-
ress was of necessity
measured from with-
in. There was noth-
ing without with
which to measure. We
were in competition
with ourselves alone,
and yet things were
done — great things.
Within ninety days
from the entrance of

the pioneers, a school was started and in less than four years a
university was chartered. The Salt Lake tabernacle, celebrated
for its unique architecture and acoustic properties, and the Salt
Lake theatre which has held rank as a first rate theatre for over
half a century, were built ; and, too, that marvel of workmanship,
the Salt Lake Tabernacle organ, was produced when transporta-
tion was done by ox team; while the school house in the many

DR. GEORGE H. BRIM HALL

896 IMPROVEMENT ERA

centers of our colonial civilization stood as an evidence that this
early isolated age was one of education, — all around, practical,
social, scholastic, and spiritual.

The mothers of that epoch had ambitions — not so much for
themselves as for their children, and these ambitions were re-
enforced by the religious conviction, that education is salvation, —
it was part of their creed.

In our log cabin on the east bench in Ogden, my mother
taught me to read and cipher. She kept well our humble home,
caring for a quartette of little ones, even to the making of our
shoes, while father was out in Echo Canyon blocking the way of
the "Buchanan blunder expedition."

There are some things we evolve from; there are others we
evolve with. The evolution of our education has not been from
this spirit of getting the best, but with it. The idea, inspiration
and determination that gave the boy the best that could be given
in the cabin home is with the aged matron today. She urges her
grandchildren to attend high school and to go on to college.

The pioneer heroines and heroes are passing away, many of
them are already in the Great Beyond, but each in turn has car-
ried well the torch of educational inspiration to the end of his or
her station, on the great relay race of life, where it has been seized
by others, eagerly waiting for their turn to bear it onward at a
winning pace.

The following incident illustrates that the spirit of "getting
an education" is still dominant in the humble homes of our state.

A representative of an eastern publishing company tells the
following story :

"I chanced to need entertainment in one of the towns in Sevier
County, and sought it at one of the village homes. Early in the
morning I found everybody at work, milking cows, putting up hay, etc.
A little boy of seven attracted my attention in particular. "Why do
you work so hard?" said I to the little seven-year-old who was raking
hay. 'To keep Hugh at school,' was the reply."

Hugh was attending one of the normal schools of the state.

77 — Evolution of the Educational Idea

The idea of eternal progress is behind the evolution of edu-
cation in Utah. Her pioneer founders stood on a spiritual plat-
form into which was written these three educational ideas, "The
glory of God is intelligence ;" "No man can be saved in igno-
rance ;" "Man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge."

These ideas heralded from the pulpit, and taught at the fire-

EVOLUTION OF EDUCATION IN UTAH 897

side, naturally permeated the atmosphere of the. school room.
They have never lost their hold in Utah. They have culminated
in the educational ideas that dominate today — that breadth of cul-
ture is preferable to breadth of domain — that winning without
work is not worth while, and that usefulness is the progressive
end of education.

Said Brigham Young, Governor of Utah, in the year 1852,
in his message to the legislature, "Deplorable, indeed, must be the
situation of that people whose sons are not trained in the practice
of every useful avocation, and whose daughters mingle not in the
hive of industry."

Thirty-seven years ago Brigham Young founded a school,
conditioning the perpetuity of his endowment on the teaching of
the arts and trades in the institution. The educational idea that
has put manual training into our common schools today, domestic
science, the arts, and agriculture into our high schools, and made
the State Agricultural College a center of industry, is not an evo-
lution from pioneer thought, but an evolution with pioneer
thought.

Ill — Evolution of Implements of Education

We have evolved from the tent to the log cabin ; from the log
cabin to the adobe building, and from the adobe building to pal-
aces of brick and stone.

A little less than half a century ago, I attended school in an
adobe school house, comfortable in the main, but of such quaint
architecture that it was nick-named "the old gypsy with a pipe in
her mouth," and really the resemblance justified the title.

On the 17th day of the first month of this year I had the
honor of delivering an address at the dedicatory services of a fifty
thousand dollar high school building in the town where once the
adobe gypsy sat on her cobblestone foundation.

The basement of the old house had no windows, and was
used as a cell where the big boys imprisoned the little ones during
the noon hour. The basement of the new structure is a well
equipped gymnasium and swimming pool. The playground of
the old was two streets and part of a 12x12 lot; the campus of
the new is a ten-acre field near the hill on which the magnificent
building stands. We lighted the old with tallow dips and candles ;
the new is illuminated with electricity. The old was heated with
a stove stuffed with wood and brush (I remember one cold day
we all turned out and gathered weeds to feed the ancient furnace.)
In the new the heat is furnished by modern radiation. In the old,
sat the wooden bucket with the tin dipper in it ; in the new the
sanitary fountain gushes. In the old was the slab bench ; in the

898 IMPROVEMENT ERA

new are hard-wood settees and opera chairs. Libraries and labo-
ratories were things undreamed of in the old, while in the new
provisions are made for both.

This is enough — let fancy do the rest, but we must confess
that our educational realization in the matter of buildings and
equipments has surpassed all idealization of half a century ago.

IV — The Evolution of the Curriculum

The three R's constituted the early day essentials of education.
There was little time for more. To this requirement subject after
subject has been added until it is becoming a question whether or
not a pupil has time for the three R's, in which event we have
evolved from not zvith our fundamentals — a growth without ad-
vancement.

As we are little more than on the threshold of advancement
with our secondary schools, very little can be said concerning the
curriculum, except that the general trend is towards providing
for the community needs and individual aptitude.

V — The Evolution of the Institution
We quote from Whitney's History of Utah the following:

"The University of Deseret, under the title of the Parent school,
was opened for the first time on Monday, November 11, 1850, in Mrs.
Pack's house, 17th Ward, under the direction and supervision of
Chancellor Spencer. Dr. Cyrus Collins, A. M., a sojourner in the
city, on his way to California, was employed for the time being to
take immediate charge of the school. Later, Dr. Collins retiring,
Professor Orson Spencer and William W. Phelps, and later still Pro-
fessor Orson Pratt became preceptors. Owing to a lack of room the
. school was at first organized for 'yovmg men only,' but a separate
department for young ladies was contemplated. The tuition was
eight dollars per quarter, half payable in advance. The second term
of the Parent school opened in February, 1851, in the upper room of
the Council House, corner of East Temple and South Temple streets.
"Forty pupils, male and female, were then enrolled, the idea of a
separate department for ladies having been abandoned. Subsequently
the school was held in the Thirteenth Ward, where the university
building was projected. A few years later the Parent school col-
lapsed, the common schools established throughout the city and terri-
tory being deemed sufficient for educational purposes at that time.
Until the revival of the University in 1867-69 the common schools, so
far as possible, supplied its place."

It is plain that from the beginning the educational institu-
tions have been co-educational. Our higher institutions have fre-

EVOLUTION OF EDUCATION IN UTAH 899

quently come up through the grades and secondary schools to the
college and university.

VI — Financial Support

From a standpoint of financial support we have passed
through several stages. First stage, local taxation for buildings
and applicances only ; second stage, state and local taxation for
partial payment of tuition ; third stage, state and local taxation
for full payment of tuition, and fourth stage, for free text books.

VII — Evolution of the Educational Unit

The educational unit for many years was the county, sub-
divided into districts with a board of trustees managing each dis-
trict, and a superintendent. Later, cities of the first and second
classes were made educational units, with a superintendent, and
provision made for county consolidation at the option of the voters.

The public high school has been latest in its development.
Until the last decade the high school work was done for the
greater part by the University of Utah, the Utah State Agricul-
tural College, the Salt Lake City and Ogden high schools, and the
various denominational schools.* These schools carried on the
high school work with great credit when the state was financially
unable.

The state is at present in what may be styled the high school
era. Beginning with the establishment of high, schools at the
expense of the locality, and terminating with the establishment of
high school units or districts composed of counties or parts of
counties, at the option of the voters in those districts. All build-
ing and furnishing expenses are provided for by local taxation.
The teaching expense is provided for by tuition, special local tax,
and a per capita state appropriation.

The University of Utah, as most of the other institutions of
higher education in the state, has come up through the elementary
school; the secondary school, (which in most instances has been
a normal school preparing teachers for the elementary schools,)
to the college and university.

Today our state University has a school of mines ; well
equipped departments of engineering; a teachers' college, and
departments of medicine and law, as well as a normal training
school of high repute.

VIII — The Evolution of the Teacher

If it be true that the teacher is the soul of the school, then

*An article in this issue of the Improvement Era by General Super-
intendent of Church Schools Horace H. Cummings reviews the work of
the Latter-day Saint system of schools.

900 IMPROVEMENT ERA

the schools of Utah have, as a rule, never been small-souled.
Civilization in her invasion of the American desert resorted to
unusual tactics. There was not a gradual advance of the ever-
rising tide, but the sudden heaving forth of a mighty wave from
the banks of the Missouri over the summit of the Rockies carry-
ing with it the aggregation of the ages ; skilled artisans and
scholars from Europe, people of culture and refinement from the
Eastern and Southern states, and characters of strength in prac-
tical affairs from Canada and the then Western states of the
Union. Cosmopolitanism characterized the communities from
the first, while conditions tended to a rapid amalgamation of
interest.

Inspiration, Indians, and irrigation are responsible for the
village method of settling and developing Utah. This system of
settlement had a tendency to accelerate and economize the appli-
cation of skill and ability.

The pioneer teacher of Utah was Mary Jane Dillworth
(Hammond), a talented maiden of seventeen, whose portrait de-
serves a place in every school house in the state. She taught in a
tent where pieces of logs served for benches and a camp table for
a desk.

Education in Utah has had no backwoods era. Fifty years
ago this winter my teacher in the little hamlet of Cedar Fort was
the honorable Zerrubbabel Snow, a member of the first supreme
court of the territory of Utah, and a friend of Daniel Webster,
while the latter was secretary of state. Over forty years ago,
in the little town of Grafton, on the Rio Virgin, it was my good
fortune to come under the training of one of the best teachers
I have ever known, in the person of Henry I. Young. In makeup
he seemed to me the prototype of the author of the Monroe Doc-
trine, whose picture was in my geography, and in disposition I
thought of him as I did of Washington. In my early teens the
great man of our town was my teacher, Silas Hillman, a man of
eastern training. He was justice of the peace and a general legal
adviser of the town folk.

Then later I had the good fortune to become educationally
intimate with Robert Campbell, a scholar of whom it is said, "He
worked all the time ;" John Morgan, the father of commercial
schools in Utah ; T. B. Lewis, with a soul akin to that of the
present incumbent of the office of State Superintendent, A. C.
Nelson, which position he once held ; John R. Park, college bred,
who came to Utah, taught the village school at Draper, success-
fully stood for many years at the head of the faculty of the parent
education institution of our State, and rendered yoeman service
to the state as superintendent of public instruction. Dr. Karl G.
Maeser, German-trained pedagogue, none too big to teach a dis-

EVOLUTION OF EDUCATION IN UTAH 901

trict school, and none too little to work out and direct a magnifi-
cent educational system. J. B. Forbes, one of the first persons
in Utah to establish a free school. For a decade and a half before
free tuition was state wide, American Fork, Mr. Forbes' home
town, had free schools.

Glancing back over this line-up of departed educators, with
the famed philosopher and mathematician, Orson Pratt, at their
head, and seeing also the community leaders still with us who have
retired from teaching, and then viewing the multitude of trained
teachers at this noblest of all tasks, it can be said of Utah, "She
has had no cause to plead pedagogical poverty." But by peda-
gogical poverty I do not mean to say that teachers are as a rule
on "Easy Street;" I mean that from the first the teachers of the
schools of Utah have been good teachers.

IX — Evolution of Teacher's Pay and Preparation

The teacher has not received relatively his share of what
has been created by honest toil. Often he has taught school be-
cause he loved the work and those for whom he worked, while he
has been forced to make most of his "living" on the side. His
vocation was not as compensative as his avocation. But the evo-
lution of pay has gone on, beginning with what he could collect
with sack on his arm, or pushing a wheelbarrow, or with some
borrowed team, and up to the present, when the bank check is
regularly mailed. There are instances now where the teacher
receives more for one month's service than he did for six months'
service four decades ago.

The day may be dawning when our educational motto may
apply to the teacher in a twofold way: Get the best preparation
and then get the best salary. Here are a few pointers I quote
from the Journal of Education:

"A year ago there were but three cities in the United States that
paid salaries higher than $6,000 for city superintendents. New York
and Chicago paid $10,000 to their superintendents, and were in a class
by themselves. Seattle paid $7,000. Today New York pays $12,000;
Chicago, Boston and Cincinnati pay $10,000, and Philadelphia and
Pittsburg $9,000."

Surely the world moves educationally, if the salaries of super-
intendents have any significance.

X — The Rise of the Stepping Stone

It has sometimes happened that school teaching has been
made a stepping stone to something else, say law, medicine, en-

902 IMPROVEMENT ERA

gineering. Rut the stepping stone has stepped up. In the face
of the following it would appear that teaching is very near the
door of honor. From the Journal of Education we quote : "The
fraternity rejoices in the election of Woodrow Wilson, as Presi-
dent of the United States." The evolution of the teachers' in-
come has lagged behind the requirements made of him. For a
new candidate to receive recognition as a permanently certificated
teacher today, for the elementary schools, four years' high school
training, supplemented by two years in the college, is required.
For full recognition in the high schools of the state, a requirement
of a four years' college course, with a four years' high school,
course, as a foundation, is demanded.

From the fact that the other professions, requiring no more
preparation, are much more remunerative in this state, it must be
seen that in order to get its share of the best talent, the teaching
profession must expect to increase the teacher's compensation,
even if some other educational output must be curtailed.

No one can hope for a greater proportionate revenue for
education than the state of Utah allows, but the real educational
growth of the state will demand a change in the distribution of
the finances. It may not be possible to have buildings, furnish-
ings and fixtures that are too good, but it is quite possible that
we have a teaching force that is too poor.

The faculties of our higher institutions of learning are made
up, in the main, of men and women who have done graduate and
undergraduate work in institutions of the first rank in both Amer-
ica and Europe. We have done more than supply our own facul-
ties with the majority of its members, for Utahns are to be found
upon the faculties of a number of America's leading colleges.

In conclusion we present a summary of some of the educa-
tional results growing out of our educational effort : Utah made
the first appropriation for an annual Art Exhibit. Utah was one
of the first states to make the Kindergarten part of its public
school system. Utah made the first appropriation for the National
Education Association, excepting perhaps California. Utah
devotes 86 per cent of her taxes to Education, and her educa-
tional edifices are among the best in the land. Utah has always
stood near the head of the list in respect to literacy, for many
years standing third.

The report of the United States Commissioner of Education
(1890-1910) shows that Utah and Iowa lead the United States in
their percentage of secondary school students, these being the
only two states that have over 20 per 1,000 of population.

PROVO, UTAH

LOOKING DOWN THE RIVER AT THE NARROWS IN OGDEN CANYON

The roadway in this scenic canyon is doubtless the best in the
mountain country. From Ogden it extends twelve miles east to Ogden
valley, through mountain scenes unequalled in the Wasatch range. A
trolley road leads up the canyon for several miles.

The Utah Public School System

BY A. C. NELSON, STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

While it is our province to write of the present condition
of the public school system, and not of the history of education
in Utah, it will not be out of place, as a prefatory remark, to

say that in Utah
there have always
been schools. Our
schools began when
Utah began and they
have grown as Utah
has grown. An ex-
amination of the his-
tory of thirty-eight
towns shows that in
every instance a
school was opened
during the first year
of their history. The
second act of the first
legislative assembly,
which convened three
years after the arrival
of the first settlers,
was the passage of a
measure providing for
the establishment of a
.university. The plant-
ing and cultivation of
crops and the build-
ing of homes neces-
sarily claimed first at-
tention, but the estab-
lishment of schools

HON. A. C. NELSON, STATE SUPERINTENDENT , ,

was soon begun, and

OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, UTAH frQm ^ J^, fc

present time there has been a gradual and consistent educational
growth.

TESTS OF EFFICIENCY

Judged from the standpoint of literacy, Utah stands among
the first of the states ; measured by the ten tests of efficiency, ap-

L- 1

w * ■

906 IMPROVEMENT ERA

plied to the state school systems by the Division of Education of
the Russell Sage Foundation, Utah holds a position of honor ; re-
garded from the achievements of its students and the character
of its citizens, it merits a full share of credit and distinction.

For many years Utah has stood third or fourth in the sister-
hood of states in point of literacy. Only two and one-half per
cent of its population over ten years of age are unable to read
and write. These are found almost exclusively among the foreign
element in the mining camps, where also are found a large per-
centage of college graduates governing the great mining industry
for which the state is universally noted.

The ten tests, applied by the Division of Education of the
Russell Sage Foundation, to determine the efficiency of a school
system, are as follows :

1. The number of children in school 6. School attendance.

2. School plants. 7. Expenditure and wealth

3. Expense per child. 8. Daily cost of schools.

4. Number school days per child, 9. High school facilities.

5. Length of school year. 10. Salaries

Judged from these ten tests, Utah stands fourteenth among
the forty-eight states of the Union.

When the work of the schools has been exhibited in com-
petition and passed upon by educational experts, the results have
been most favorable. At the St. Louis Exposition, held in 1904,
the grade schools of Salt Lake City received a gold medal, plac-
ing them in the second rank ; the high school a silver medal, plac-
ing it in third rank; the State Normal Training School received
a gold medal. The grand prize, the highest award given to any
school was secured by the State School for the Deaf, Dumb and
Blind.

The credits of the State University are accepted at their face
value by the highest educational institutions of the land. The
State Agricultural College ranks with the best. The president
of that institution, himself a Utahn, is recognized everywhere as
an authority on the work of his chosen profession.

In regard to the achievements of some of Utah's students,
the attention of the reader is directed to the following brief ex-
cerpt taken from the Journal of Education, January, 1913, pub-
lished in Boston by Dr. A. E. Winship, a venerable educator who
is recognized throughout the nation as an authority on conditions
which best promote the educational welfare :

"Today one little county in Utah has in the world's arena, some of
the best artists, sculptors, singers, and instrumentalists in America, more,

908 IMPROVEMENT ERA

probably, than any state of ten times its population. In Boston, alone,
last year a Utahn won the highest prize in sculpture, musical composi-
tion, and on the violin. One of the prizes of the National Federation
of Musical Clubs goes to a Utahn."

Not only is this true of art and of music, but it is also true
that Utah has produced writers and actors of note. In history,
in law, in science, and in government, our students have made
marked progress. It is a matter of common knowledge that
Utah students who enter Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Columbia,
Chicago, Wisconsin, and similar universities, often excel in their
classes. The excellent standing of these students is due largely
to habits of sobriety and right living. With the students, so with
the teachers throughout the state, practically all of them refrain
from the use of tobacco and intoxicants.

ATTENDANCE AND EXPENDITURES

Today, in the public school system of the state, 95,000 chil-
dren between the ages of six and eighteen years receive instruc-
tion. There are 115,000 school children in Utah, but several
thousands of these attend private schools. The children are
taught in 700 school buildings, the value of which is $8,000,000.
The expenditure for school purposes has now reached the sum of
$4,000,000 per annum, which means an expenditure of $35 for
each pupil of school age, or an annual tax of $11. to each person
in the state.

UNITS OF ADMINISTRATION REVENUES

Utah has three units of administration in its school system.
One is to be found in the first and the second class cities ; one
in the consolidated districts of the first class ; the other in local
common school districts. A city of at least 50,000 population
belongs to the first class ; a city between 5,000 and 50,000 to the
second class ; school districts of the first class must have a popu-
lation of at least 2,000 children of school age.

The schools in cities of the first and the second class, five in
number, are governed and controlled by their respective boards
of education. A board of education in a city of the first class
consists of ten members, one-half of whom are elected biennially
for a term of four years ; a city of the second class has a board
of education consisting of five members, one of whom is elected
every year for a term of five years. In cities of the first class,
school boards are authorized to levy a tax of six and one-half mills
for general maintenance and one and one-half mills for building
purposes ; boards in second class cities with an assessed valuation

THE UTAH PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 909

of at least $10,000,000 have the same taxing power. In second
class cities with less than $10,000,000 assessable property, school
boards may levy eight and one-half mills for general maintenance
and one and one-half mills for buildings.

The members of the boards of education in county school
districts of the first class are elected for a term of four years.
The elections are so conducted that some of the members are
always experienced in their duties. The boards have authority
to levy from ten mills to fifteen mills for general maintenance
and building purposes, according to the assessed valuation of their
respective districts.

The local or common school district boards consist of three
members, one elected annually for a term of three years. These
local boards have a taxing power of ten mills.

In addition to the taxing power of the boards in these re-
spective units of organization, additional funds may be raised by
a vote of the qualified electors. All cities and districts receive
their pro rata share of the three mill state tax for graded schools
and of the county school tax, which may not be more than four
mills on the assessable property of the county. All high schools
in the state which are maintained upon the standard fixed by the
State Board of Education receive their pro rata share of the
funds derived from the state high school tax, which consists of
one-half mill of the eight mill state tax. From these sources of
revenue come the $4,000,000 which are raised and expended an-
nually among the public schools of Utah.

SCHOOL BUILDINGS

The school plant, as before intimated, is one of the factors
which has much to do with a school system. With school build-
ings this state is well supplied. The little one room rural school
house is now almost unknown in Utah. There are perhaps not
more than a dozen such buildings in the state. Practically every
community has a school building which adds to the beauty of the
place and which contributes to the health and comfort of the
child. With the exception of the Salt Lake City high school
building, which is being erected at a cost of one-half million
dollars, the accompanying likenesses are of buildings such as are
being constructed in many parts of our commonwealth. It will
be noted that some of these buildings are more or less remote
from the centre of population. During the last five or six years
nineteen high school buildings have been erected ranging in cost
from $25,000 to $100,000. In every case these buildings have
been fully equipped with modern conveniences. A brief de-
scription of one of them may aid the reader to form a more ade-

r~

eu.s s
•sgu|

.S.S S *

U

THE UTAH PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 911

quate idea of the buildings in which the children receive their
school training.

The Carbon county high school building with its furnishings
cost approximately $100,000. It is built of reinforced concrete
and is absolutely fireproof throughout. It covers three-fifths of
an acre of ground and contains more than one and one-half acres
of floor space. Outside, it is cement plastered and finished with
Caen stone color water proofing. The ground floor contains the
gymnasium, the domestic science and art department and the
manual training department. The gymnasium is 50x75 feet. It
has a running track, a number of shower baths, and a 25x40 foot
swimming pool. It also has a spectators' balcony. The domestic
science rooms are equipped with electric, gas, and coal ranges.

CARBON COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL, PRICE, UTAH

In connection with the domestic science department there is a
model dining room and also a lunch room for the boys and an-
other for the girls. The building contains its own gas plant used
chiefly for the chemical laboratories and for the domestic science
department. The first floor has an auditorium with a seating
capacity for five hundred persons. Leading from the gymnasium
on the ground floor to the auditorium is a spiral stairway, over
which the gymnasium performers may pass to and from the stage
of the auditorium without in any way disturbing the audience.
On the floor also are two locker rooms equipped with steel lock-
ers, two retiring rooms for teachers, and the principal's office.
The second floor contains the physical and chemical laboratories,
a lecture room, and music and art rooms. Throughout the build-
ing there are the latest designs in plumbing and heating. The
building is equipped with an electric plant. This lighting is of
the indirect type which approaches more nearly to daylight than
any other artificial light known. Besides the rooms already men-
tioned, there are eighteen regular class rooms. The likeness of
the building shows that it is a structure of architectural beauty.

912

IMPROVEMENT ERA

TEACHERS

Much as are to be desired commodious and comfortable
school buildings, attractive and sanitary surroundings, the most
modern and improved equipment, still they are all of secondary
importance to the character and qualifications of the teachers.
During recent years somewhat rigid legal requirements have en-
hanced the teaching efficiency in the schools. No person is now
eligible to take the examination for the purpose of securing a
teaching certificate valid in the common schools until such person
has acquired either three years of successful teaching experience
or four years of high school training and about one-half year of
normal school work. Graduates of normal training schools
which require their students to complete two years of work beyond

* ilf £ ffr ' "uJ

L^_. » •^&£'

1 miir

ill II Hill

Hi!
in

fit m

Mill mi;

i

jpfjWHf i 1 pug

m

8S

SPANISH FORK, UTAH COUNTY, HIGH SCHOOL

a four year high school course, or its equivalent, are given teach-
ing certificates without examination. A greater number of such
qualified persons are entering our schools each year. They are
well prepared, especially after one or two years of experience, to
give valuable service. The increased preparation required of
teachers has contributed to a rise in teachers' salaries. The
average monthly salary of the common school teachers in Utah
is, male, $85 ; female, $65.

HIGH SCHOOLS

A remarkable impetus was given to the high schools when
in 1911, state aid was secured and the high schools were placed
under the direction of the State Board of Education. Utah is
one of the few states giving state aid to high schools; last year

THE UTAH PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM

913

the state contributed $20.90 for each student who had been in
attendance at least twenty weeks during the year. To be eligible
to participate in the state high school fund, schools must follow
the prescribed course of study ; they must provide adequate
equipment for the courses which they offer ; they must remain in
session at least thirty-six weeks during the year, including holi-
days ; they are required to employ teachers who hold state high-
school certificates or diplomas. As these certificates represent
scholarship equivalent to a degree from a standard college, includ-
ing credits in the professional subjects, it is apparent that high
school teachers are required to undergo thorough preparation for
their work. A state high school inspector works under the direc-

IIIGH SCHOOL, AMERICAN FORK, UTAH

tion of the State Board of Education, who visits the schools fre-
quently and gives such aid as may be required.

The course of study aims to train for efficient citizenship.
In the course of study, the fact is not lost sight of that the high
school owes a duty to those seeking higher education, but the
dominant idea is not that the function of the school is performed
merely in preparing its students to enter college. It takes into
account the fact that many high school students do not enter col-
lege at all, but that practically all of them enter civic and indus-
trial life and that they should, therefore, receive the best possible
training for civic and industrial success. It is recognized also
that the schools should train young men and women for useful-

914 IMPROVEMENT ERA

ness in their own community. Heretofore, the rural high schools
have been feeders to the college and to city life. The high school
is now seeking to readjust itself to the needs of the particular
community in which it is situated. Courses are given in agricul-
ture, outside of mining districts and first and second class cities.
Courses in domestic art and science are offered, that the girls may
become acquainted with household duties. Courses in music,
commercial branches, and subjects leading to the professions are
also given. But one of the main purposes now sought in the
rural high school is to educate the stronger youth toward the farm
and to industry instead of toward the professions and business
exclusively. . The greatest change in the Utah school system dur-
ing recent years has taken place in the high schools. Only a
decade ago, there were but four or five high schools in the state.
Today there are forty. High school privileges are now accessible
practically to all of the youth who are prepared to pursue courses
in secondary instruction.

LIBRARIES

A word should be said of the public libraries. Recent legis-
lation has made it the duty of the State Board of Education to
promote the establishment and maintenance of libraries. School
boards are required to set aside annually from the local school
fund, a sum equivalent to fifteen cents for each child in the dis-
trict of school age, which sum is expended for books recom-
mended by the State Board of Education. The schools through-
out the state now have libraries well adapted to the needs of the
pupils. In addition to school libraries there are between twenty
and thirty public libraries in various towns and cities. Since the
beginning of the library-gymnasium movement, gifts aggregating
$70,000 have been received from Andrew Carnegie. Other gifts
from private and public organizations have contributed to the
establishment of municipal libraries which are a distinct credit to
the cities in which they are situated.

CONSOLIDATION

About eight years ago, a law was enacted providing for the
consolidation of small school districts into larger units of organi-
zation. Seven of the twenty-seven counties have already taken
advantage of the benefits of this law and several other counties
will doubtless consolidate their districts within a comparatively
short time. In these consolidated districts, there is an equitable
distribution of school funds. As a tax is levied upon all the
assessable property of the county, sections with much corporate
property necessarily contribute to the support of sections less
favored in this respect. Consolidation admits readily of the ap-
pointment of efficient supervisors ; of a desirable grading, both of

THE UTAH PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 915

teachers and of pupils ; of economy in the purchasing of supplies ;
and of a more efficient school administration throughout.

SUMMARY

While, as before stated, there has been a consistent develop-
ment in the schools of Utah from the beginning, it is only fair
to say that the schools have made especially commendable prog-
ress during recent years. The citizens have responded readily
and generously to any requests which have appealed to them as
beneficial to the schools. During the last decade we have changed
our school law, and therefore our standards, so that now we have

MT. PLEASANT HIGH SCHOOL, SANPETE COUNTY, UTAH

free, uniform text books, uniform state examinations for teachers,
uniform examinations for eighth grade pupils, school libraries,
better organized county teachers' institutes, a committee to pre-
pare a state course of study, county consolidation of districts, a
committee to approve school house plans, and medical inspection
in city schools. Now our high schools receive state aid when
they reach such standard of efficiency as is prescribed by the State
Board of Education. Ten years ago, an eighth grade graduate
was eligible for examination for a teaching certificate. Now four
years of accredited high school work and at least nine hours in
the professional subjects are required for entrance to the exam-
ination. The requirements for state certificates and diplomas
have been greatly increased. A state high school diploma then
represented scarcely more than one year's work of college grade.
Now a full college course or its undisputed equivalent is required.

916

IMPROVEMENT ERA

Corresponding increases have been made in the requirements for
grammar grade diplomas and state five year certificates. Largely
through these requirements the schools have grown in influence
and efficiency. They are not perfect, but they are responding in
an encouraging manner to our necessities and to the praiseworthy
ideals of our people.

[Superintendent A. C. Nelson, who has faithfully and efficiently
served Utah as Superintendent of Public Instruction since the year
1900, is a man who stands as well with the leaders in education in the
United States as in our own State. Here is what Carrol G. Pearse,
Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools, wrote last August: "Mr.
Nelson is known to me, as he is to all the men engaged in school work
throughout the country, as a splendid type of western educational
leader, a man who commands the respect of all his associates through-
out the country; and who is regarded by them with the warmest feel-
ing of personal friendship."

M. G. Brumbaugh, Ph. D., LL. D., Superintendent City Schools,
Philadelphia, says of our state superintendent: "I count Superintend-
ent Nelson one of the kingly men in the profession, able, alert, pro-
gressive, sane, and lovable."

G. H. Harris, State Superintendent of Louisiana, writes: "I
consider Superintendent Nelson one of the strongest superintendents
in this country. He is so considered by thousands of men who annu-
ally attend the N. E. A." — The Editors.]

A SCENE IN EMIGRATION CANYON THE RAILWAY WINDING

OVER THE HILLS

u

cu

JCJ

i

+->

s

CU

c

O

B
a

a

'Ejo
e
W

CO

13
C

t<

bio

CO

o

On

i — i
i — i

>

rt

a

t

on

en

•-1 oj i— i
VO *0 ^3-

'flj

a;

a

^t~

a

(/-,

.o

-C

W

CM

en

cu

cu

+j

G ^

u

en

s

TO

i — i

CU

a

-»->

CM

CON
03 rH

J*0

.- c

CO

nl .a

« cu +J

c-c

O +-1 •*? .a

cu o

CO

^CO

J3 -

73 C/] ^ fe .OJ

o
fajo o

CU CU tn

i-i a as

CU *-J

Q l-H

^ -4-J

■S cu

B cu bfl oj CM

C 4= -a rh cm

5 «S ^ ^ CM

b/D

cu T3 cu

c a a

03

1- cu

Oh c

a
u

>

S-9

o

Oh

cu c3
fcuo'o
o5 O
3 en <m

cu

O h-H

a a

cu ><-i

'T3
rt CM
>> en O

O CU AA-

CU

•-H CU

*T3

a

.2 rt

n3
cu O

b 00 t* —

a r^ cu cy

rt CO C o3

« M £ E

a u o .u

o ;a .a

cu

Organization and Government of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

BY JOSEPH B. KEELER, OF THE BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

"In the founding of his over-hated Church, Joseph Smith displayed a
consistent genius for organization and government that has baffled the
best conceived plans of enemies, bent on undoing his work, during three
generations, and half of a fourth."

That is the opinion of a non-"Mormon" writer, Doctor Webb,
who recently gave a lengthy review of some of the doctrines and
policies advanced by the prophet Joseph Smith, founder of the
religious organization known as the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. Many other outsiders all down the line have
in effect expressed the same judgment as this commentator. It is
taken for granted, therefore, that any phases or particulars
couched within the caption of this article would be alike interest-
ing to the young "Mormon" as well as to the uninformed outsider.

/ — Source of Authority for Organization

At the outset, it should be said of Joseph Smith that he never
claimed to have originated that form of church government so
often ascribed to him ; it was not an emanation of his brain. He
ever and persistently proclaimed that he was simply a human
agent under the Almighty, in whatever he advocated either as law,
religious principle, or as sociological doctrine. The "Mormons"
themselves thoroughly believe this, however others may question
its truth.

The world of mankind first began to know Joseph Smith
when he announced that the heavens had been opened to him and
he beheld two glorious personages, God the eternal Father, and
his Son Jesus Christ. This event occurred in his fifteenth year,
as he prayed fervently to know which church he should join. At
intervals from this time on, from 1820 to the day of his death,
1844, he claimed communion with holy angels and to be constantly
guided by Divine Providence pertaining to social and religious
matters. The scope of this article precludes details of history
showing the process of development of church government as a
practical instrument by which a people have secured much of this
world's comforts and a hope of happiness for the future. But two
very important events must be mentioned.

GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH

919

77 — Heavenly Messengers Restore the Priesthood

When a man starts out to set up a church in the name of
Christ, he ought to give some reasonable explanation for his au-
thority in such procedure. This Joseph Smith did. He asserts
that in May, 1829, no less a personage than John the Baptist, now
a heavenly messenger, conferred upon himself and Oliver Cowdery
the Aaronic Priesthood, which delegated the keys of the minister-
ing of angels, the right to proclaim the doctrine of repentance,

and to baptize by immersion
for the remission of sins.
Shortly after this, three an-
cient apostles, Peter, James
and John, being commissioned
of God, conferred the higher
or Melchizedek Priesthood.
This latter endowment in-
cludes the apostleship and
gives authority to build up the
kingdom of God in the world ;
this priesthood also compre-
hends all spiritual powers and
keys necessary to be exercised
for the salvation of mankind.

Ill — Foundation Stones of
Government Laid

With this authority, on
April 6, 1830, in the little
town of Fayette, New York,
the Prophet proceeded to or-
ganize the Church. It started
with six members — a few
others were present. The
first foundation stones of the
new government were firmly laid. It was definitely stated to those
present, that the method of organizing and the form of the organi-
zation itself were in conformity to a command of God. The new
Church members were asked if they were willing to accept Joseph
Smith and Oliver Cowdery "as their teachers in the things of the
Kingdom of God," to which proposition they all voted affirma-
tively. ' "And all things shall be done by common consent," is a
command to the Church. This doctrine, then followed, has been
strictly adhered to from that first day to the present. There can
be no foisting of men or measures onto the organization. Every

JOSEPH B. KEELER

920 IMPROVEMENT ERA

officer from president to deacon, must stand the test of a vote
of the people, at least once a year. Even the revelations to the
Church from the living Oracles (the leading authorities of the
Church) must first be accepted and approved by the body before
they are operative. Tn these matters the greatest freedom is ac-
corded to all members, women voting with the men. It should be
a self-evident proposition that no law, either human or divine,
can be effective without its free and intelligent acceptance by those
who are to obey it.

IV — The Mclchizcdck Priesthood — and Offices Arising Therefrom

The primary offices of the Melchizedek or Higher Priesthood
are those of Patriarch, High Priest, Apostle, Seventy, Elder. By
virtue of his office and calling the President of the Church is
President of the High Priesthood. From the body of High
Priests, at present numbering over ten thousand, all the general
officers are chosen, including also patriarchs, stake presidencies,
and ward bishoprics. The subdivisions of this body of priesthood
number sixty-four, corresponding with the number of organized
stakes (or geographical divisions) of Zion ; except, however, the
priesthood in the mission fields are not regularly organized in
quorums but meet generally for instruction and work. The High
Priests, as a rule, are men of long service, mature years, and are
usually well versed in principle, doctrine, and government. Most
of them have performed missions, have traveled extensively, and
have clone service in the offices below their own grade ; and,
withal, are men of dignity, being rounded out by careers of varied
experiences.

V — The First Presidency — Some of Their Powers and Duties

The office of President of the Church is elective. The Presi-
dent is first selected by the council of Twelve Apostles, from
among the High Priests, himself a High Priest ; then at a general
conference held in Salt Lake City, semi-annually, also at stake
conferences, held four times each year, at the headquarters of each
stake, he is by vote "upheld by the confidence, faith and prayer
of the Church." He has associated with him two Counselors who
are chosen in a similar manner, and the three compose the First
Presidency. Connected with this high office is the endowment
and confirmation of prophet, seer, and revelator. The powers and
duties of the First Presidency are co-extensive with the Church.
To summarize the revelation designating their powers, it says
they are "to receive the oracles," or revelations, "for the whole
church ;" they hold the keys of all the spiritual blessing of the
Church ; they "have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the
Kingdom of Heaven — to have the heavens opened unto them, to

GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH 921

commune with the general assembly and Church of the First Born,
and to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and
Jesus Christ the Mediator of the new covenant."

VI — The Marriage Covenant

The President is the only person who holds the keys of that
priesthood which includes the eternity of the marriage covenant.
Church marriages are solemnized only in temples, and only to the
few who officiate therein is this power delegated. The Church,
however, recognizes marriage under the civil law, but it does not
encourage members to marry for time, yet some do. The per-
petuity and strength of any government depends largely upon
the esteem in which the marriage contract is held by its people.
In the light of "Mormon" doctrine, "Man, in his fulness, is a two-
fold organization — male and female. Either being incapable of
filling the measure of its creation alone, it requires the union of
the two to complete man in the image of God. Outside of mar-
riage, the salvation of man is incomplete." This idea of per-
manency of the marriage bond, enduring not only for time but
for eternity, has a wonderful effect on the integrity of the home
— which fact may be attested, in one way, by the very small per-
centage of divorces. The statistics of 1912 show but fifty-three
divorces after Church marriages ; the year previous showed fifty-
two divorces for the whole organization.

VII— Temples, and Vicarious Work for the Dead

Another distinctive function which attaches to the office of
the First Presidency is that of building temples, and the direction
of the work therein. The first edifice of this kind was built in
Kirtland, Ohio ; the next in Nauvoo, Illinois ; and four others have
been erected in Utah, and one is now being constructed in Alberta,
Canada. Paul's question to the Corinthian Saints, "Why are they
then baptized for the dead?" is receiving a practical answer in the
temples. A vicarious work for dead ancestors is constantly going
on. Up to date deceased persons numbering over two mil-
lions have had the ordinance of baptism performed for them.
Many of these have had the endowment of the priesthood ; hus-
bands and wives have been sealed in the marriage covenant, and
other ordinances have been administered by living relatives and
friends. Ordinances and covenants under the gospel necessary
to salvation which may be embraced by the living, may also be
applied to the dead, by proxy, in the temples. To keep this work
going requires a great deal of time and means of members who
labor for others, and a vast outlay by the Church for construction
and maintenance.

922 IMPROVEMENT ERA

VIII — The Tzvelvc Apostles — Ambassadors of Christ to the World

Ranking next in authority and official position to the First
Presidency, is the Council of Twelve Apostles. The duty of its
members is to preach the Gospel to the world, to send it to all
people, and to bear testimony of Jesus Christ, as living witnesses
of His divine mission. The senior member is president. Under
the direction of the First Presidency they have charge of the mis-
sionary work of the Church.

At present twenty-one missions are established ; and they
comprise all of the United States (outside of what is known as
the stakes of Zion), parts of Mexico, all of the countries of Eu-
rope, except Russia, Spain, Greece and Turkey ; the South
African mission, embracing all the civilized parts of the continent
of Africa, except the northern part; practically all of the Pacific
Islands, including Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. About
one thousand missionaries are sent annually to the various parts
of the world. These are taken from any and all occupations.
They go on missions without salary, providing their own means
of support, sometimes being assisted by friends, the Church pay-
ing only their transportation home. Their terms of service are
about two to three years. These missionaries are imbued with
a sincere love for their fellowmen, and manifest a patriotic devo-
tion to God and to everything for which the Church stands.

IX — The Quorums of Seventy — "The Minute Men"

The body of priesthood standing next to the Apostles are the
Seventies. These are elders whose special calling is to do actual
service in the missionary field ; they are the "minute men" of the
Church. The last enumeration, (1912), placed their number at
10,442. They also are organized into groups or quorums of
seventy members, (when complete) and each quorum is presided
over by seven presidents, one senior and six associates. There
are now organized one hundred fifty-nine quorums. A council
of seven presidents has the supervision over these quorums, and
looks after the details of their labors ; the council being, of course,
under the general direction of the Council of Apostles.

X — The Elders — The Home Ministry

In a class below the High Priests is the great body of Elders,
numbering 25,320 men. These are mostly young men. Their
calling primarily is to assist the High Priests and to do service
at home, not abroad, though thousands of them do go upon foreign
missions. Those who are residing in stakes are organized into
quorums of ninety-six Elders each (as near as may be) having
a presidency of three of their -nvn number as head. At present

GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH 923

there are 329 quorums, and in this capacity they are engaged in
systematic work, first by acquiring theological and sociological
information, and second by active service among the people.

It may be remarked in passing that all of the quorums are
similarly engaged, systematically pursuing educational courses —
studying the scriptures, history, social questions, government, and
many other things that make for efficiency in their respective
lines of work. In fact, it may be truthfully said of the member-
ship of all the quorums taken together, numbering 84,406, that
they form one immense college or "school of the prophets."

XI — The Stakes of Zion

Stakes of Zion are territorial, and governmental divisions of
the Church. In form of organization they correspond mainly to
the Church as a whole. At the head is a presidency of three High
Priests; then a High Council of twelve men, Elders' quorums,
and presiding boards of Relief Societies, Sunday Schools, Young
Men's and Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations,
Primary Associations, and Religion Classes. The population of
the Church, which in round numbers approximates half a million,
is organized into stakes, wards, and missions. The sixty-four
stakes now established are distributed in Utah, Idaho, Colorado,
Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Alberta, Canada.

XII — The Local or Ward Organization

The ward organization is a subdivision of the stake, and its
presidency is a bishopric — a bishop and two counselors. Here
may be observed the real life and activity of the people. It is so
perfectly organized that each man, woman, and child almost daily
feels the influence of its agency in their religious, moral and intel-
lectual life. Often, also, through this medium are many of the
secular or temporal needs of the members looked after and pro-
vided for. The population of a ward ranges from about 300 to
1,500, and there are now organized 720 of these miniature gov-
ernments, and they are continually multiplying. The bishopric
of the ward presides over the Aaronic Priesthood divided into
quorums of Priests, Teachers, and Deacons. In membership,
these quorums separately when complete number 12 deacons, 24
teachers, and 48 priests, with a presidency of three presiding over
each group. The membership of the Aaronic Priesthood for the
whole Church is 7,578 priests, with 258 quorums ; 9,778 teachers,
with 298 quorums ; 20.608 deacons, with 797 quorums ; or a total
of 37,764 holding the lesser priesthood. The Improvement Era
is the organ of these quorums.

All the quorums or parts of quorums meet weekly in each
ward to study the principles of the gospel and to learn of their

924 IMPROVEMENT ERA

duties in the Church, under teachers called for that purpose. The
educational value of this training in spiritual and practical religion
can not be overestimated. All instruction is free.

XIII — Auxiliary Organizations — "Helps in Government"

There are six other organizations forming an integral part of
Church government which are not councils or quorums of the
Priesthood, but which are auxiliary to it and under it. They are
"helps in government" in the various bishops' wards, missions and
branches of the Church. The frame-work of each organization is
three-fold, consisting of a General Board, a Stake Board, and a
Ward Board ; the latter board presiding directly over the member-
ship in a ward or other jurisdiction. In their operations they are
subordinate to the ward, the stake, and the general authorities.
Naming them in their chronological order they are : ( 1 ) the
Relief Society; (2) the Sunday School; (3) the Young Ladies'
Mutual Improvement Association ; (4) the Young Men's Mutual
Improvement Association; (5) the Primary Association; and (6)
the Religion Class. The titles of these societies pretty well indi-
cate their character — they are agencies for education, culture, and
benevolence. The number of the separate societies range from
600 to about 750, the Sunday School Union having the largest
number of organizations. A few items relating to these societies
may be mentioned.

XIV — What the Societies Stand For — What They Are Doing

The Religion class was organized in 1890. The work is the
training of children of elementary school age in practical religion
and in character-forming habits. The number of pupils at present
enrolled is 37,149.

The Primary association was organized in 1878. The object
is to promote spiritual development in children, to encourage in-
dustrial occupations, and to discourage idleness and careless
habits. The age of members is from three years to twelve ; the
work is graded. The number enrolled is 63,103. They publish
a monthly magazine — the Children's Friend.

The Young Men's Mutual Improvement association was or-
ganized in 1875. The object, fundamentally, is to provide a
means for self-culture and special advancement in the fields of
religious and secular learning ; especially in the latter, through the
activity of reading circles, boy scouts, athletics, musical and
oratorical contests ; besides each year a course on some phase of
sociology, government, ethics, practical religion, or industry, is
pursued. Also the object in view, through the activities of the
associations, is "to establish in the youth of Zion an individual
testimony of the Latter-day Work, to develop the gifts within

GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH 925

them, and to cultivate a knowledge and application of the eternal
principles of the great science of life." The membership is 33,506
The Improvement Era is the organ of these societies, and is at
present in its sixteenth volume, it having succeeded The Contrib-
utor which was published seventeen years.

The Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement association was
established in 1869. These organizations furnish opportunity for
education in the domain of religion, science, history, and of
women's work generally. The membership is 33,969. The Gen-
eral Board publishes a monthly magazine — The Young Woman's
Journal.

The first Sunday School was organized in 1849, in Salt Lake
City. The Sunday School Union Board was formed in 1866, and
more completely in 1872. The membership of all schools com-
bined, is 181,152. The Juvenile Instructor has been published
regularly since 1866, and is the exponent of this organization.

XV — The Relief Society — Among the Oldest of Women's

Organizations

"I now turn the key for women," said the Prophet Joseph
Smith, on the 17th day of March, 1842, when he organized the
Relief Society and sent it forth on its mission of love. It has a
membership of 33,674, with 720 separate ward societies. Its work
in the world is to manifest benevolence to all, to look after the
poor, comfort and help the sick and unfortunate, to minister where
death reigns, to assist in correcting the morals, and in strengthen-
ing the virtues of the community, and to foster among its members
a love for education and refinement. It has given for charity
during the year just past, in round numbers, $36,000 ; it has now
stored in granaries and elevators many thousands of bushels of
wheat for bread in cases of extreme want or famine. But, as
another has said, "written words could no more tell the magnifi-
cent work of members of the Relief Society than they could de-
scribe the perfume of a flower or the song of a meadow lark ; for,
like ministering angels, they comfort the sorrowful, relieve the
distressed, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, wait upon the sick,
scattering glad news and cheer along their daily work, giving in
true Christian spirit, letting not the left hand know what the right
hand doeth." There are about 100 societies in the missions.

XVI — Courts — Regular and Special

One of the three departments of government is the judicial.
A complete system of courts is established, which give final and
authoritative interpretation and application of the laws of the
Church wherein members are charged with or found guilty of
unrighteous conduct, breaches of discipline, of apostasy, and the

926 IMPROVEMENT ERA

like. In case of transgression neither layman nor officer, high
or low, is exempt from their authority. These courts may be
divided into two classes, regular and special. The regular courts
are : ( 1 ) the ward bishop's court, or common court, the bishop
acting as judge, assisted by his counselors; (2) the Stake High
Council, composed of the Stake Presidency, and twelve High
Priests, having original and appellate jurisdiction. In form of
organization it approaches the ancient Jewish Sanhedrin; (3)
the Council of the First Presidency. The special courts are: (1)
the Presiding Bishop's court; (2) the Council of High Priests
abroad ; and (3) the Traveling High Council of the Twelve Apos-
tles.

The extreme penalty that may be inflicted is severance from
Church membership. Members are counseled to adjust and settle
difficulties which they may have one with another, between them-
selves. Failing in this, two of the "peacemakers" of the Church —
the Teachers — are called to their aid who help to conciliate and
arbitrate the trouble. If these agencies fail, the case may be taken
to the bishop's court, where an impartial hearing, devoid of tech-
nicalities, is had. Should either of the parties feel that the de-
cision is unjust, he may appeal to the High Council, where fifteen
men will sit on the case ; and even from this high tribunal an
appeal may be taken to the Council of the First Presidency, for a
review of the whole proceedings. All of this is without cost to
either party, the only object in view is to mete out justice and
equity to everyone.

XVII — Aaronia or Lesser Priesthood — Office of the Presiding
Bishopric — Some Activities Mentioned

One more important organic feature of government is yet to
be mentioned — the office of Presiding Bishopric, consisting of
bishop and two counselors. They are the general board of the
Aaronic Priesthood of the Church. Aside from a general super-
vision of the educational and social activities. of the Lesser Priest-
hood, their chief function is the direction and management of
temporal or business affairs of the Church under the direction of
the First Presidency. A few of the things that are being done
by the Church through the medium of this office may be briefly
mentioned :

The tithing, (one-tenth of the net income), voluntarily con-
tributed by the people, is collected and disbursed, as well as other
revenues, through the Presiding Bishop's office, and local offices
in the various wards and missions.

Once a month, in the respective wards, fast meetings are
held ; in these assemblies fast offerings for the poor are made.
Upwards of $60,000 from this source alone was contributed last

GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH 927

year. During the same period there was given to the worthy
poor $197,000 ; and the number of persons assisted temporarily
was 4,930 ; while the number assisted permanently was 12,439,
many being non-members. Quick response with generous amounts
are often made to people, not considering creed or color, who are
overtaken by earthquake, famine, flood, or other disasters.

One of the finest and best equipped hospitals in the West is
established in Salt Lake City and is managed through this office.
Thousands of dollars of charity treatment is done annually by
this institution.

An employment department is conducted through local offices.
Its benefits are not restricted to members of the Church ; for the
month of April, 1913, for example, there were 139 applications
for employment, and 130 positions supplied.

This office also gathers vital statistics, some items of which
are interesting. The birth rate shows 59 births per thousand of
Church population, which is larger than for the United States as
a whole, or than any nation of Europe. Of the women who bore
children in 1912, the average in these families is four for each
mother. The death rate is 8.4, for the thousand, while the death
rate for the United States is about 15 per thousand. The average
duration of life taken from deaths reported for 1912, is 35 years.

Twenty-two schools are maintained — three of college grade,
and nineteen of secondary grade, with an aggregate registration
of about 8,000, maintained at a cost of about half a million dol-
lars annually.

The settlement of lands and the providing of homes for its
people have always been among the prominent 'activities of the
Church ; through its fostering care large tracts in many regions
have been redeemed and colonized. At present there is a depart-
ment in the Presiding Bishop's Office, the purpose of which is to
locate members on land who are unable to help themselves and
who wish to obtain homes and engage in farming. In short,
under its auspices and by its powers and functions, the Aaronic
Priesthood undertakes numerous measures looking to the temporal
comfort and well-being of the people.

XVIII— The Final Test

The final test of any religious system holding out salvation to
the world must be judged by its power to save men, body and
spirit. "Mormonism," so called, embraces the workable doctrine
of a temporal salvation, here and now, as well as a soul salvation
hereafter. The first part of the proposition should be a matter
easily proved, the latter is a matter of faith and individual testi-
mony.

PROVO, UTAH

ONE OF THE MOUNTAIN LAKES IN THE COTTONWOODS

On the summits of the Uintah Mountains, in which rise the big
rivers of northern Utah — the Weber, the Bear, the Provo, and the
Duchesne, are a thousand clear-water lakes like the lake shown here
in the Wasatch mountains. Many of the lakes abound in fish. The
rivers and creeks draining the Uintahs on the south empty into the
Pacific, while those on the north feed the waters of our great inland
sea.

The Church Schools

BY GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT HORACE H. CUMMINGS

Some time ago I received a telephone message from a Chi-
cago friend who was sojourning in this city, about as follows:

"Mr. and Mrs. L are here from Chicago and I cannot get them

to believe that the 'Mormon' schools are worth calling schools. Won't
you come over to the hotel and take luncheon with us, and then con-
duct them through the Latter-day Saints' University?"

My Chicago friend was well acquainted with the work done
by that school. I gladly accepted the invitation and had a very
pleasant visit with them at the luncheon. Both were refined and
cultured ; he had acted twenty-two years as State Superintendent
of schools in one of the most progressive middle-west states.
After luncheon we went to the school for the afternoon, visiting
the various classes, the library, the laboratories, and the different
departments of work. I explained the various kinds of work to
them, the intellectual, the industrial, and the religious, and their
relation to each other and their effect upon the pupil, all of which
seemed to surprise and interest them very much. They asked
many intelligent questions about the school and seemed pleased
with what they saw and heard.

I asked Mr. L what he thought of the school. "It is one

of the best, if not the very best high schools I ever saw," he earn-
estly replied. This was after we had completed the inspection of
the school.

If a man of his intelligence was so far misled by the false
statements published against our people, from time to time, how
can the less informed be blamed for thinking the "Mormons" are
indifferent to education ? It is astonishing how the effect of this
misrepresentation persists, in the face of so much evidence to the
contrary.

Another error quite widely believed, intended to take the
place of this one, when it is counteracted by the knowledge of
real conditions, is that our excellent schools are of very recent
origin, being brought into existence through the influence of out-
side people of education and refinement who have come and set-
tled amongst us. Without any conscious feeling of ingratitude
for help received from any source whatever, I desire to present
a few well-authenticated facts about the educational efforts and
development among the Latter-day Saints.

930

IMPROVEMENT ERA

True, the Prophet Joseph Smith was prevented both by age
and circumstances from being educated when he began the estab-
lishment of the Church ; but the Church had been organized only
a trifle over a year when two of the principal elders, William W.
Phelps and Oliver Cowdery, were instructed (in June, 1831) "to

do the work
of printing,
and of select-
ing and writ-
ing books for
the schools in
this Church,
that littlechilr
dren also may
receive in-
struction be-
fore me as is
pleasing unto
me" (Doc. &
Cov. 55:4).
In June, 1832,
this instruc-
tion was re-
peated in an
article which
appeared in
the first num-
ber of the
Evening and
Morning Star:
"The disciples
should lose
no time in
providing
schools for
the children
that they may

PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

be taught as is pleasing unto the Lord, and brought up in the ways
of holiness. * * * It is all-important that to become good
they should be taught good."

"The Glory of God is intelligence." "Men cannot be saved
in ignorance." "A man is saved no faster than he gets knowl-
edge." These sayings and other teachings of the Prophet, to-
gether with the facts set forth in the New Testament that the
Savior himself had to learn "line upon line and precept upon pre-
cept," and "was made perfect by what he suffered," destroyed
the old sectarian notion that death-bed repentance and confession

• THE CHURCH SCHOOLS 931

of faith in Jesus, by some miraculous power prepared the sinner
at once for celestial glory. Planted in its place came a belief that
we must become "perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect," and
that this was necessarily through a slow educative process as
shown in the life of the Savior himself. Actuated by these teach-
ings, the best schools possible have been maintained by the
Church. The School of the Prophets and the Elders' school were
established, in 1832 and 1833, and did much good in that early
day. In August, 1833, the Lord said:

"Behold I say unto you concerning the school in Zion, I, the Lord,
am well pleased that there should be a school in Zion, and also with
my servant Parley P. Pratt, for he abideth in me; and inasmuch as he
continueth to abide in me, he shall continue to preside over the school
in the land of Zion until I shall give him other commandments."

The Saints are then commanded to erect a school building in
which they can be instructed (See Doc. and Cov. sec. 97). The
year 1834 was fraught with much persecution, which interfered
very greatly with the schools of the Church. However, it was
provided that a school should be opened in the lower portion of
a building erected for a printing office (See Church History,
Vol. 2, page 169). This school was conducted throughout the
winter, and lectures on theology, which furnished an important
part of the work, were prepared under direction of the Prophet,
and are now found in the Doctrine and Covenants under the title,
"Lectures on Faith." Concerning the Kirtland school, William E.
McLellan made the following report, dated February 27, 1835 :

"The school has been conducted under the immediate care and in-
spection of Joseph Smith, Jr., Frederick G. Williams, Sidney Rigdon,
and Oliver Cowdery, trustees. When the school first commenced, we
received into it both large and small, but in about three weeks the
classes became so large and the house so crowded that it was thought
advisable to dismiss all the small students and continue those only
who wished to study penmanship, arithmetic, English grammar, and
geography. Before we dismissed the small pupils, there were, in all,
about 130 who attended. Since that time we have had upon an average
of 100, the most of whom have received lectures upon English gram-
mar; and for the last four weeks, about 70 have been studying geog-
raphy one-half of the day and grammar and writing the other part.
Burdick's Arithmetic, Kirkham's Grammar, and Olney's Geography
have been used. The Noah Webster's Dictionary is standard. Since
the year 1827 I have taught schools in five different states and visited
many schools which I was not engaged to teach in. In none, I can
say with certainty, have I seen students make more rapid progress
than in this."

932

IMPROVEMENT ERA

A Hebrew school was also taught in Kirtland during the
winter by Prof. Joshua Seixas, who was engaged to teach seven
weeks for three hundred and twenty dollars. Several classes were
organized and great interest was aroused in the study of ancient
languages. Other branches were also taught, a singing school
being an important de-
partment. The next ten
years was a stormy time
in the history of the
Church. Persecution in-
terfered very much with
school activities. From
Ohio and Missouri the
Saints were driven and
settled in Nauvoo, Illi-
nois, and there soon es-
tablished thriving col-
onies, schools being anl
important, ever-present
feature. On December
10, 1840, Gov. Thomas1
Carlin, of Illinois, signed
the charter for the Uni-
versity of the City of
Nauvoo. Adults, as well
as children, attended
these schools, and every
effort was made to im-
part information and
make it general among
the people.

The Saints were final-
ly driven from their
beautiful city, in 1846,
and a brave little band

of one hundred and forty-three pioneers piloted the way across
the desert into the Salt Lake valley, arriving there July 24, 1847.
The first few weeks were used in planting crops for themselves
and others about to follow and preparing shelter for their fam-
ilies. As soon as practicable a school was started by Miss Mary
Jane Dil worth (Hammond). A few weeks later, when the frosts
of winter lessened the outside work, a larger school was estab-
lished under the direction of Julian Moses, who was the first male
teacher in Utah. From this small beginning, the system of pub-
lic schools gradually grew. Within two years and a half a state
university was chartered by the Utah legislature. At first a tui-
tion was charged students of the university as well as the pupils

DR. KARL G. MAESER, FIRST PRINCIPAL
BRIGHAM YOUNG ACADEMY

THE CHURCH SCHOOLS

932

of the elementary schools, but as population and wealth increased,
they all became free. A most excellent system of public schools
was thus provided by the "Mormons" who have always gladly
maintained and patronized them and done all in their power to
render them efficient.

As religion was not taught in public schools, the Church con
tinued the original practice of maintaining Church schools. The
Brigham Young Acad-
emy was founded at
Provo, October 16,
1875. The Brigham
Young College, at
* Logan, two years
later. The latter was
endowed by its found-
er, whose name it
bears, with a valuable
tract of land near the
city of Logan. The
deed of trust grant-
ing this endowment
provided that besides
the usual subjects
taught in colleges, the
curriculum of this
school should include
/instructions in what
are now known as
agriculture, manual
training and mechanic
art, domestic science,
domestic art, branches
which were not taught
in other institutions
at that time, but which
have since become so
important.

Under the wise direction of the General Church Board of
Education, during the next decade, a system of Church schools
was established in the principal stakes of Zion. An academy to
do high school work was established in each of the most popu-
lous stakes and a seminary for elementary work in the more
wealthy wards. In all these schools, besides the branches taught
in the public schools of like grade, theology was required and the
spirit and atmosphere of the schools made to conform to the ideals
of the Church as far as possible.

The seminaries, however, did not continue many years be-

HORACE H. CUM MINGS, GENERAL SUPER-
INTENDENT L. D. S. SCHOOLS

934

IMPROVEMENT ERA

cause of the great expense to educate the vast number of chil-
dren of elementary school age, but the academies still persist,
though several discontinued during the financial depression of
the early nineties.

Dr. Karl G. Maeser, the first principal of the Brigham Young
Academy, was also chosen as the first General Superintendent of

MAESER MEMORIAL BUILDING, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

the Church schools, and under the guidance of the General
Church Board of Education, the peculiarities of the present school
system were developed. He had great ability both as a teacher
and an organizer, and he originated many excellent features that
still are peculiar to our Church schools, and have proven to be of
the highest value. His labors seemed timely, for the growth of
the Church and the increased number of its schools demanded a
more thorough systematization, and his peculiar ability had a
unique field in which to operate.

Surely a people who willingly taxed themselves to maintain
a double system of schools could not be said to be indifferent to
matters of education.

The problem of financing the Church schools has always been
a serious one, and in times of business panics and during early
persecutions, it has several times become desperate. In many
instances, the devoted teachers have willingly given their services
free, as missionaries, or for half pay or for whatever the people

<u <u c o i- <u 3 o u

- +j . +j to -m Its c
Cmh-Sjj 3 £ m -Mrs. <l>

B 2.b <u< \Sji-3 5

•~* c s o

^j c u <u •"

_ u !,__ p

3 ^-2 o

« > O rt r-

3 C

'" '» kit: ^

t/i ca >> rj rt2 ^-^

J2 o

u

TJ

s

05 _

&> ■ s * s «•-

b^- i: - <" r- <«

51 [i ? » O^ >,

«*-" 'O a j:

rrt i, "J C >- -4 a

+j rt'« in.« rt 3 O

J3 O uj_~J5 „,'""' ftOd)
bee---'0-1- .Ce!

2$ 2^ g-5|.S "n

T, "J ° -^ N ifl o

<U

- fc^x £

j2 c
o""1
o-a

X C <u ? -M

<U 3 4-> -

i- o <u c n-

« « o S?c2 ^ 5\S-£

rt (U O rt "g

■O 3 u
up, bi

;u

9'S*S_-h'-3 Son

*■* o ? «,

■--co o ni hj

S M So O « ° m ""^
.» h _ 4J ~> v-< >^ ri ro i^ +J

> O

en 3 a; <L> hj

>, 3X £ jj CO <U.«

.. ^yji ,- ij u «j

w o

en O

3,3

— tn > _■

^ -Q en

rt

"id °

en m ^ C O o3 rt fth id

rsrp

4) *-> a

3

Tl O

i- -+-"0 n *-• >-

o -o , . n « « o

be oj cs

o cd

co 5 3 rj ni

^ 3 a . ^— w--o c ~

C On-^^cobflOrtCS

I— < . '-t-' ^ ^ OJ '^ C rn r-

3 <u _.tl"o H= «>S ^

936

IMPROVEMENT ERA

could give them ; since the only sources of revenue are the tithes
and voluntary contributions of the people.

Latter-day Saints regret the present general dearth of reli-
gious training for the young, for moral training cannot be entirely
successful without religion. The three great forces that the

jC^b

UINTAH ACADEMY, VERNAL UTAH

Christian world depends upon for moral and religious results are
the home, the church, and the school.

The modifications in home life have been so srreat and so

SNOW ACADEMY AND GYMNASIUM, EPHRAIM, SANPETE CO., UTAH

THE CHURCH SCHOOLS

937

rapid during recent years that methods of moral training there
have not kept pace with them, and are now inadequate to meet
the needs and conditions in most homes. When each family pro-
duced most of what it consumed, each member had some task
which contributed to the welfare of all ; family ties and home
influences, then, were strong. Morning and evening prayer,
Bible reading, and practical exhortations to right conduct, were
common exercises around the family hearth. Now, the factory,

WEBER ACADEMY, ON AN ARBOR DAY, OGDEN

shop, department store and office separate the family after_ a
hasty breakfast, perhaps too early for younger members to join.
Conditions are no more favorable for the family devotional exer-
cises at the irregular hours of assembling in the evening. De-
mands of business upon the father and of society upon the mother
divert their interests, in a measure, from the home, with the result
that the number of children as well as the quality of parenta
training is rapidly diminishing. Modern society is in such a whirl
of business and work and fashion and pleasure that the training
of the children receives too little attention.

The public school is no longer opened with any form of devo-
tional exercises. Many of the teachers and pupils never pray.
No religious instruction can be given lest the schools become sec-
tarian Even Christmas exercises are fast becoming Christless.

938

IMPROVEMENT ERA

While most schools are conducive to morality, the instructions
along these lines are so indistinct and general that they fail to
develop the sturdy integrity of the founders of our nation, who
knew the New Testament by heart, having learned it in the public
school.

To my mind, the differentiation that has grown up amongst
us as to the religious and the secular incducation is most unfortu-
nate. I love to think that all the principles of education are both
religious and secular. Not one of them could be spared from so-
ciety or from the Church. Either would suffer irreparable loss
if deprived of training in language, mathematics or science, as it
would without truthfulness, charity or virtue. The multiplica-

G1LA ACADEMY, THATCHER, ARIZ.

tion table is as essential to salvation as is faith or baptism. As
well might we think of an unreformed thief in the kingdom of
heaven as an uninstructed ignoramus. The so-called religious
cannot say to the so-called secular, "We have no need of thee."
"Be ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect" is the
task assigned us, and we should not only acquire the divine attri-
butes of His heart but attain unto the knowledge which is in
Him.

The child is a unit and should develop as a unit. All his pow-
ers and attributes must be trained in proper season or the pro-
duct will be unbalanced and unsatisfactory, if not positively dan-
gerous. Neither the head, the hand, nor the heart must be neg-
lected. Church schools, in preparing for this all-around develop-

THE CHURCH SCHOOLS

939

ment of their students, use on the intellectual side the same text
books as are used in the best public high schools. Their curricu-
lum contains the same courses of study. The teachers are certifi-
cated with the same requirements as those of the public schools.
Their libraries, laboratories, and other equipment are equal, and
in many cases superior, to those of the public schools, and every
effort is made to insure that the training of the students of our
schools shall not fall below that of the best standard high schools.

Industrial education was provided for even before Dr. Wood-
ward started, in St. Louis, the first manual training school of the
United States. We have been leaders in this work. The products
of our industrial departments are always of a high order, except
in the smaller schools, where efficiency can not always be ob-
tained.

The following will give an idea of the number, and distribu-
tion of our schools, and interesting statistical information con-
cerning them :

SCHOOL

B. Y. University

B. Y. College

Big Horn Academy

Cassia Stake Academy-
Emery Stake Academy-
Fielding Academy

Gila Academy

Knight Academy

L. D. S. University

Murdock Academy

Millard Stake Academy..
Oneida Stake Academy.. _

Ricks Academy

San Luis Stake Academy.

Snow Academy

Snowflake Stake Academy
Summit Stake Academy..

St. George Academy

St. Johns Academy

Uintah Academy

Weber Academy

Juarez Academy

Diaz Seminary

Dublan Seminary

Pacheco Seminary

Morelos Seminary

Chuichupa Seminary

Garcia Seminary

Oaxaca Seminary

Guadalupe Seminary

San Jose Morelos

Provo, Ut.

Logan, Ut.

Cowley, Wyo.
Oakley, Ida.
CastleDale, Ut.
Paris, Ida.

Thatcher, Ariz.
Raymond,

Al'ta, Canada
Salt Lake, Ut.
Beaver, Ut.
Hinckley, Ut.
Preston, Ida.
Rexburg, Ida.
Manassa, Colo.
Ephraim, Ut.
Snowflake, Ariz.
Coalville, Ut.
St. George, Ut.
St. Johns, Ariz.
Vernal, Ut.
Ogden, Ut.

Juarez, *Mex.
Col. Diaz, "
Col. Dublan,"
Col. Pacheco"
Col. Morelos "
Col.Chu'pa, "
Col.Carcia, "
Col. Oaxaca,"
Col.Guada. "
Col. Morelos "

w

Oct. 16, 1875
July, 1877
1909
July 25, 1888
1890
1884
1888

1909

1897
1890

1906
Nov. 5, 1888
Nov. 30, 1888

1910
1

188S
1888

1909

1409
540
120
158
136
208
174

150

1146

215

125

242

333

101

305

107

64

234

101

193

485

228

228

389

127

201

84

103

51

30

25

8012 233

03 «
EH

S-o

*&

109

3 >•

584

13000
IO00
350
208
1000
1725
1270

200

5975

3000

550

1600

2150

575

1185

640

650

700

315

655

3000

220

220

40

104

50

160

PI

$116,000

61,900

4,630

7,000

6.80C

12,900

10,003

11,000

62,000

13,000

9,000

10,500

15,303

7,200

15,500

6.000

5.000

6,250

4,203

7,000

25,030

11,000

} 12,000

48542 $439,180

•The statistics from the schools in Mexico are taken from reports two years ago,
as the war down there has closed all of them during 1912-13, and some suspended during
1911-12.

The regular courses in theology consist of the careful study
of the Book of Mormon, New Testament, Old Testament, and

940

IMPROVEMENT ERA

Church History. Besides this, a domestic organization is main-
tained. Pupils are responsible to the schools for their conduct
at all times. The regulations of the school prohibit the use of tea,
coffee, liquor, tobacco, profanity and late hours. Students are also
impressed with the necessity of attending to their various religious
duties conscientiously. Great care is used to make the atmosphere
of the school harmonize with the ideals of the Church. Most of
the schools have missionary classes in which young men who take
this course become acquainted with the doctrines of the Church,
and so far as possible they are given practice to prepare them for
their actual labors in the mission. In teaching the other branches
— science, history, literature, etc. — care is taken to establish a
natural correlation with theological work and forestall an unbelief
in the gospel. In fact, the course of training in the Church
schools is so devised as to call into frequent action the mental,
spiritual, and physical attributes of the students, and to develop
them as best we can into well-balanced, consistent manhood and
womanhood.

ANCIENT CLIFF DWELLINGS, SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH

The "Mormon" Finance System

BY CHARLES W. NIBLEY, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE CHURCH OF
JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

The system of revenue of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is of itself something remarkable. It is a free
will offering (one-tenth of
each member's income) by
which the activities of the
Church are maintained. It
is of divine origin, prac-
ticed by the people of God
in ancient days, and re-
vealed in our generation
through the Prophet Joseph
Smith.

The Prophet enquired
of the Lord concerning this
law in July, 1838, while the
Church was yet in its in-
fancy. The answer to the
Saints was that the Lord
required one-tenth of all
their interest annually, and
this was to be a standing
law forever. This revela-
tion is recorded in Section
119 of the Book of Doc-
trine and Covenants. In it presiding bishop charles w. nibley
blessings are promised to

those who observe the law ; and to those who do not observe it the
Lord said : "If my people observe not this law, to keep it holy,
and by this law sanctify the land of Zion unto me, that my statutes
and my judgments may be kept thereon, that it may be most holy,
behold, verily I say unto you, it shall not be a land of Zion unto
you."

Throughout the Church the tithes are collected by the bishops
of the wards. A bishop acts as a father to the community over
which he presides, and looks after the spiritual and temporal
affairs of the ward members. With his two counselors, he visits
all the people, enquires into their welfare, labors with them, en-
courages them to live their religion, assists in finding employment
for new members moving into the ward, visits the sick, cares for

942 IMPROVEMENT ERA

the poor, presides over all Church meetings, collects the tithes, etc.

The tithes are brought to the bishops in various forms. Hay,
grain, butter, eggs", livestock, and a part of whatever the people
produce is given for the maintenance of the Church. If there are
poor, the bishop sees they are properly taken care of out of these
tithes. Maintenance of ward buildings and places of worship are
also paid by the bishop from the tithing fund.

At the close of each year there is what is known as "tithing
settlement," when at a given place the ward members meet with
their bishopric, settle their accounts and see that a proper record
of their payments has been made. Thereupon the bishop makes
up his annual report, which is submitted to and audited by the
presidency of the stake. This "auditing committee" visits each
ward, examines the records showing the receipts and disburse-
ments of tithes, and passes upon all payments from the tithing
funds. Let it be said to the credit of more than seven hundred
men who hold the office of bishop, and who receive and handle
the tithing of the Latter-day Saints, that shortages are very rare
indeed.

For the labor he performs the bishop receives no salary,
although a small allowance is made him for the work incidental to
receiving, handling, and accounting for tithes. Indeed there is no
salaried system in the Church. Those who give their entire time
to the ministry must of necessity be furnished with sufficient means
to live on, but it is expected that men will take pleasure in working
for the Lord, without money and without price. The unselfish
labor of a ward bishop and his counselors and the sacrifices they
make for the good of others affords a splendid example of the
faith these men have in their religion.

The tithes received by ward bishoprics, after allowances have
been made for ward and stake expenses, are forwarded to the Pre-
siding Bishop's Office, where they are disbursed under the direc-
tion of the First Presidency of the Church and the Presiding Bish-
opric. Here the funds are widely distributed as the activities of
the Church are many. Temples and other Church buildings are
erected and maintained, including a first class hospital, Church
schools are operated, colonists locating in different parts of the
country are assisted, home industries established, and the poor
cared for. Indeed it would be difficult in this short article to
enumerate all the channels through which the Church funds are
distributed.

The education of the children of the Latter-day Saints receives
the greatest consideration of the Church. The largest single item
of expense from the tithes is for maintaining and operating
Church schools. At present, there are thirty-one Church schools,
which under ordinary conditions have an enrollment of about
8.0C0 pupils. Even in far away New Zealand, Samoa and Hawaii,

THE "MORMON" FINANCE SYSTEM 943

where there are considerable numbers of native converts to our
faith, agricultural schools have been established for the purpose of
teaching the natives how to obtain a livelihood from the soil.

Foreign Missions and missionary activities receive consider-
able support from the tithing funds. Places of worship are erected.
The . fares of all elders returning from their fields of labor
are paid. This latter item amounts to many thousands of dollars
as approximately one thousand elders return from missionary
labors each year.

Since the organization of the Church much attention has been
given to the native tribes of Indians, known to us as "Lamanites."
There are at present, in the organized stakes of Zion, colonies
of these people who draw assistance from Church funds, notably
those at Washakie, Skull Valley and Kanosh, in Utah, and the
Papago Indians near Pheonix, Arizona.

For the benefit of our immigrants who arrive in Salt Lake
City without friends or relatives, a free Employment Bureau has
been established at the Presiding Bishop's Office. This bureau
is maintained out of the tithing fund. Many people apply here
daily and a personal representative sees that they are all taken
care of.

Home industries are fostered by the Church as they provide
employment for the people and tend to develop the country
generally. In the early days of Utah the beet sugar industry was
established here, by great effort and expense, and when it was
considered hardly more than an experiment.

From the beginning the "Mormon" people have been builders.
Temples and other places of worship have been erected wherever
they have made their homes. With the growth of the Church,
this process of building has gone on continually, and each year
now a considerable amount is appropriated from the tithing fund
for this purpose. At the present time a temple is being erected
in Canada.

At the close of each year all the general expenditures of the
Church are audited by a committee of five prominent business
men who are sustained by the vote of the general conference of the
Church. This committee examines carefully the records and ac-
counts as they are centralized in the offices of the First Presidency
and Presiding Bishopric. When the work is completed they
render a written annual report which is submitted to the Church
at its April conference.

The system of tithing as' practiced by the Latter-day Saints
is ordained of God. What is given by the people is largely re-
turned to the people for their use and benefit. There exists but
one object before the leaders of the Church in the disbursement
of these funds, and that is the promulgation of righteousness and
the establishment of the Church and Kingdom of God upon earth.

Educational Value of the Missionary System
of the Latter-day Saints

BY NEPHI ANDERSON, ASSOCIATE EDITOR UTAH GENEALOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL MAGAZINE," AND AUTHOR OF "ADDED UPON," ETC.

The missionary system of the Church is unique in this, that
all who receive the "glad tidings" contained in the gospel of Jesus
Christ are unselfishly expected to pass the good news along; for
"it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neigh-
bor;" and in this fact lies the great educational value of the
system. This gospel-preaching, however, is done in an orderly
way, for no man takes to himself the prerogative of the Priest-
hood, but he who is "called of God, as was Aaron" — that is, by
divinely appointed authority.

Facts and figures are usually accounted dry and uninspiring,
but as bearing on the missionary system of the Latter-day Saints,
they tell a wonderfully interesting story. Here are some statistics,
taken from a compilation made at the close of the year 1912:

For missionary purposes, the United States is divided into
seven districts, called missions. In these missions, during the year
named, there were the following number of missionaries : Eastern

AN L. D. S. CHOIR IN ROTTERDAM, HOLLAND

"This is a picture of the Rotterdam Choir — the 'Hope of Israel' — which is one of
the largest choirs in the Church outside of Zion. It is a great factor in bringing
many to a knowledge of the truth. Where preachers in 'broken' Dutch fail to make an
impression, the songs of Zion so ably sung never fail. Our choir is one great mis-
sionary of seventy-five voices and one purpose. There are in this group ten members
who have just recently been baptized and three others whom we expect to join the
Church shortly. In the center are Elders Royal K. Jensen and Elder Watkins, leader
and organist respectively."- — Royal K. Jensen.

VALUE OF MISSIONARY SYSTEM 945

States, 137; Southern States, 200; Northern States, 166; Central
States, 156; Western States, 70; North Western States, 75; Cali-
fornia, 35. There were in the British mission, 250 ; Australian,
44 ; New Zealand, 41 ; Netherlands, 58 ; Swiss and German, 168 ;
Scandinavian (Norway and Denmark), 94; Swedish, 49; French,
28; South African, 15; Tahitian, 11; Samoan, 37; Hawaiian, 35;
Japanese, 17; Mexican, 14. These figures make a total of 1,700,
of whom 94 are lady missionaries, which number is somewhat
below the average.

ELDERS OF CHRISTIANIA CONFERENCE

Back row, left to right: Hans Wamsal, Draper; Daniel L. Jensen, Spring City;
Erastus H. Peterson, Manti; Lawrence C. Monsen, Salt Lake City, Utah. Second row:
standing: Carl J. Olansen, Menan, Idaho; Norman H. Salvesen, Hyrum; C. F. Peder-
sen, Preston, Idaho; Ole A. Wold, Salt Lake City; J. Verne Nielsen, Hyrum; Confer-
ence Secretary Alfred C. Larsen, Provo; O. Wilford Pedersen, Logan. Sitting: Marie
Gartman, president Christiania Relief Society; Christina Christopherson, _ Salt Lake;
President Scandinavian Mission, Martin Christopherson, Salt Lake; President Chris-
tians Conference, C. M. Nielsen, Salt Lake City; Mrs. C. M. Nielsen, Salt Lake
City; A. Amundsen, Salt Lake City. Front row: Clarence Nielsen, Salt Lake City;
George D. Pedersen, Salem, Idaho; P. H. Johnson, Spanish Fork, and Knute Nielsen,
Salt Lake City.

For administrative purposes, the missions are divided into
conferences, and the conferences into branches. An Elder pre-
sides over the activities of each of these divisions. There are at
present 150 conferences and 617 branches, which call for execu-
tive management. The work done by the missionaries during the
year 1912 is reported as follows : Families visited in tracting,
2,462,093; gospel conversations held, 1,752,068; tracts distributed,
10,205,826; books sold, 572,000; open-air meetings held, 9,788;
priesthood meetings held, 4,671 ; persons baptized, 4,146.

The population of the "Mormon" Church is about half a mil-

ELDERS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONFERENCE

Elders, from left to right, back row: Earl T- Soelberg, Idaho Falls, Idaho; June
B. Sharp, C. Clyde Coult, Clifford Hodgson, Salt Lake City; Joseph F. Hintze, Holli-
day; Enoch Larsen, Richfield; W. E. Spafford, Provo: S. R. Boswell, Neohi, Utah; D.
Vernon Shurtliff, Baker City, Ore. Center row: Tames H. Ockey, Nephi, Utah; Con-
ference President Gottlieb Blatter, Idaho Falls, Idaho; Mission President F. J. Hew-
lett, Mrs. F. J. Hewlett, Fait Lake City; Conference Presdient John E. Hunter,
Holden; Alfred J. Gowers, Jr., Nephi, Utah. Front row: Walter H. Matthews, Marion,
Idaho; Leland S. Tate, Tooele; William Barker, Brigham City; Milton P. Fletcher,
Provo, Utah.

lion. Out from this number about one thousand men go each year
into the missionary field, and a like number return. Their average
time of absence is about two and one-half years. Most of these
missionaries are young men of an impressionable age, many of
them being under twenty-five. They are taken from every voca-
tion and from every part of the country. Fifty per cent of them
come from farming communities. All of them have had the
advantages of a common school education, many are high school
and college graduates (for "Mormon" communities stand high in
educational facilities) ; but they have not been specially trained in
homiletics, other than that which the Church gives to every mem-
ber who will take part in its activities.

The gospel message which they carry is so simple that a man
of common intelligence, if he is pure of heart and mind, can de-
liver it. A profound knowledge of historic Christianity, of the
dead languages, of Christology, or of Eschatology, though not to
be depreciated, is, however, not essential to the telling of God's
goodness, love, and redeeming power. The gospel which the
"Mormon" missionary preaches is that which can be understood
and is gladly received by the common people. His work consists

ELDERS OF THE VIRGINIA CONFERENCE, SOUTHERN STATES MISSION

Back row, left to right: Frederick A. Welch, Cowley, Wyo.; Elmer Stoddard,
Richmond, Utah; Jos. C. Norton, Fairview, Ariz.; C. A. Savage, Henrieville, Utah;
Roy Wood, .bates, Idaho; Marion R. Cobbley, Blackfoot, Idaho; Alonzo E. Dutson,
Leamington, Utah. Seated, middle row: A. D. Holyoak, Moab; Bernard A. Montague,
Salem, Utah; George S. WeeKes, Archer, Idaho; Chas. W. Crosby, conference presi-
dent, Eagar, Ariz.; Wm. T. Owens, Paragoonah, Nathan D. Hiatt, Payson, Utah.
Front row: Elmer Heninger, Logan; Oscar Whiting, Mapleton, Utah; Marion Whit-
tle, Marysville, Idaho; John L. Ferris, Junction, Utah; David R. King, Moore, Idaho.

in arousing faith in God, in calling sinners to repentance, in ex-
plaining and administering baptism in water for the remission of
sins, in announcing the restoration of the gospel of Christ in

ELDERS IN THE NEW YORK CONFERENCE, EASTERN STATES MISSION

Left to right, back row: H. S. Coleman, Midway, Utah; A. M. Emney, Idaho
Falls, Idaho; Wm. E. Bushnell, Meadow, Utah; I. Parnell Hinckley, Salt Lake City;
J. W. James, Rexburg, Idaho; A. E. Bingham, Riverdale, Utah. Sitting: A. L.
Buchanan, Venice; Martin Mortensen, conference president, Thatcher, Ariz.; W. S.
Langton, mission secretary, Logan; A. A. Bybee, Lyman, Idaho; C. M. Beckstead,
Sandy, Utah.

948

IMPROVEMENT ERA

purity and power, and in encouraging all to live a godly life. Two
years of such work is bound to have its effect on those who are
engaged in it.

The "Mormon" missionary receives no salary. His time and
talents are given, as he feels, to the service of the Lord. He is
simply warning his neighbors as he himself has been warned. His
labor is one of love and sacrifice. He leaves his business, his
shop, his farm to get along the best they can. He leaves home,
parents, wife, children. If he has not the means to carry him
through his mission, those at home must send it to him. He goes
into a strange world ; he must adjust himself to new environments ;
often he must learn a new language. The timid boy from the
farm, as well as the business man and the schoolmaster, go out to
teach the world. They meet the learned, the worldly wise, the
ignorant, and gain valuable lessons from them all. In fear and

«* ■* A i

i

T - S; *: W '#'

~M

^54 *V "''uTlF'' ^■*i^H

"

Hk 2 JKL IP

W' '*<■'■

$W<.

v " J^W

OREGON CONFERENCE, MARCH 10, 1913

Back row: R. A. Bitter, Beaver Dam; H. L. Jeppersen, Bear River City; Wm. L.
Madsen, Mt. Pleasant; Wm. P. Dopp, Cornish, Utah; Joseph C. Hogan, Hatch, Idaho;
Joseph C. Harker, Cardston, Canada; Alma Yeates, Millville, Utah. Ladies: May
Carlisle, Salt Lake City; Zella Smart, Logan; Elsie Brown, Salt Lake City. Third
row; N. A. Wheeler, Fielding, Ltah», E. J. Solomon, conference president, Salt Lake
City; M. J. Ballard, mission president; H. A. Benson, mission secretary, Blackfoot,
Idaho; Henry Penman, West Weber, Utah. Front row: A. W. Edwards, Charleston;
Wm. S. Winn, Nephi; Frank Morgan, Layton, Utah.

trembling the missionary passes his tracts from door to door,
engages people in conversation, and takes his place with his com-
panions on the street corner in open-air meetings. He must deliver
his message, cost what it may. Passers-by taunt him, yet he must
not reply ; the pious as well as the rabble insult him, yet he must
hold his temper and his tongue ; he must return good for evil.

VALUE OF MISSIONARY SYSTEM

949

In his new field of labor, the weight of his calling presses upon
the "Mormon" missionary. He realizes what a weak instrument
he is, and how much depends on the grace of God to be with him.
He studies, he prays. If he formerly had doubts, these vanish ;
for he who does shall know, is his Master's promise. Out from
the stress of conflict the missionary arises, his faith firmly planted
on the rock, and he grows into a strong, resourceful, fearless man.
The "weak things of the world" become "a polished shaft," — and
then he returns home to his native village.

The missionary may have been to the land of the Midnight
Sun; he may have jostled in the crowds of London; he may have
sailed on the scenic Rhine, or climbed the mountains of Switzer-
land. In his visits to the olden lands, he muses in ruined castles
by historic walls and waters ; he listens to the music of the masters
in their native haunts ; he lingers in the art galleries where the
world's best in painting and sculpture is seen. If his mission
takes him to South Africa, to the South Sea Islands, to Australia,
or to Japan, he gathers a fund of interesting facts and experi-
ences, all of which he brings home with him, and he frequently
travels around the world to land there.

j

J ^gg r ft*

u»3

%L$

,,.

j !

A

1

'i '

at S

■" #

■ i

p

IT ' ,

ij

M

S

%^

rf% '

1

, ^ ;

'

lie

t

■.

■gj .j

- ■ - --.

ELDERS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MISSION
Durine 1912 the elders spent 1,633 hours in tracting visited 18,088 families.

Remier, Paris; Oscar B. Nielsen, Archer, Idaho.

A GROUP OF ELDERS LABORING IN BERLIN, GERMANY

Back row, left to right: Orson Johnson, Salt Lake City; John Stosich, Idaho
Falls; T. A. Browning, Idaho. Sitting, left to right: William Kessler, editor Der Ster,
Salt Lake City; Charles I. Stoddard, president Berlin conference, Richmond, Utah;
James C. Oram, Idaho Falls; Otto Burgi, Sugar City, Idaho.

ELDERS OF THE SHEFFIELD CONFERENCE, ENGLAND

Top row, left to right: Lorenzo P. Burt, Brigham; Orion B. Thurgood, Bountiful;
Milton Jacob, Provo; James D. Todd, Salt Lake City; Harry E. Page, Riverton;
Joseph E. Wood, Holden; W. Chester Jefferies, Grantsville. Second row: George
Hay, Menan, Idaho; Edwin Clawson, Hyrum; Roy H. Peck, Garland; Wiley S. Collett,
Vernal; Wm. J. Francis, Brigham; Wollerton Brinton, Murray; Joseph S. Morgan.
Third row: Byron R. Jordan, Mountain View, Alberta, Canada; Thomas Shepherd,
Provo; A Laverne Riggs, conference president, Logan; Rudger Clawson, late president
European mission; Isaac C. Wood, Woods Cross. Fourth row: Joseph A. Vanesse,
Smithfield; John P. Leatham, Wellsville.

VALUE OF MISSIONARY SYSTEM

951

What a lesson is taught in common brotherhood by the "Mor-
mon" missionary's experience ! The banker missionary from the
city arrives at his field of labor. He is assigned to a conference
by the mission president. The conference president under whose
direction he will labor may be at home the village blacksmith or
carpenter, but no objections are raised to this arrangement, for
these men understand that no man's honorable occupation either
bars or qualifies for spiritual leadership. Together these men

ELDERS AT COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

The elders are all from Salt Lake City, and their fields of labor are, top row:
Louis C. Jacobsen, Holbsek; Chris O. Jensen, Silkeborg; Robert H. Sorensen, mission
secretary; J. H. Johnson, Sweden; Joseph N. Busath, Copenhagen; Alvin R. Chris-
topherson, Aarhus; sitting: Peter W. Kjser, Copenhagen; August H. Knebelau, Hol-
brek; Martin Christopherson, mission president; John S. Hansen, associate editor of
Skandinaviens Stjerne; Alfred E. Pederson, Bornholm.

work for the salvation of souls, and then in due time, with their
rich experiences, they come back to the body of the Church.

This coming and going is continuous, until in every com-
munity of Latter-day Saints there is gathering a class of men who
have been educated in the school of the world. Every other man
one meets in a "Mormon" village has been on a mission, some
of them on two missions, a number, on three. These men are
well-balanced, broad-minded. They talk intelligently on the man-
ners and customs of other lands, and can explain the teachings
and practices of religions other than their own. They know the
world, — its good and its bad, its beauty and its ugliness, its
strength and its weakness — and this knowledge is a part of true
wisdom. They impart this experience and this tvisdom to those

952

IMPROVEMENT ERA

around them, and thus the whole community is benefited. The busy
bees of "Deseret" constantly gather honey from every fragrant
field and bring it into the hive. The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints does not believe in educating one or two only,
in each community, to be preachers of the word and active in the
ministry, but its theory is that if there is any educational value in
this calling, every Church member should have the advantage
thereof. If there is virtue in the Priesthood, then every worthy
member should receive of it, until there shall be "a kingdom of
priests, and an holy nation ;" and in all this the missionary system
of the Church plays an important part.

Thomas L. Chipman, Tokyo, Japan, April 16: "We are all well
and happy here in the far East. We send you a snapshot of our head-
quarters. It is difficult to get a plain view of the whole house as it
sets among so many beautiful trees in our garden. Our headquarters

are in the best part of the city
of Tokyo, right in the midst of
the very best schools in Japan,
and some of them are ranking
high among the universities of
the world. Among these are the
Waseda University and the Mil-
itary Officers' Training School,
the last named being very much
like the West Point Military
Academy. Many other high
schools are in our neighborhood
and from all of them a few stu-
dents continually come to our
meetings to investigate the prin-
ciples of the gospel. We are
very proud of the few good
Saints that we have converted, and believe they compare favorably
with Saints in any other part of the world. Today we led two souls
into the waters of baptism for which we are indeed very happy. We
work hard and know that with efforts such as are now extended the
work will roll along very rapidly. We have many friends and are
continually forming new ones. All of our meetings are well attended.
We join in thanking all at home for the help rendered us in our work,
for we know that it has been through the faith and prayers of our
brothers and sisters at home that we have been able to meet with the
good success that we have."

The Utah Agricultural College

BY DR. JOHN A. WIDTSOE, PRESIDENT

The love of the people of Utah for higher education is well
shown by the fact that in the Utah Agricultural College the en-
rollment of students is larger in proportion to the population of
the State than in any other agricultural college of the United
States. For every 227 of population one was a student at the
college in 1912-13.

This unusual record is due to the fostering care which Utah
has always given the cause of education. The University of Utah
was organized almost before the Pioneers had really established
themselves in their new-found wilderness. The Utah Agricultural
College was created in 1888 by the first territorial legislative
assembly after the passage by Congress of the famous Hatch Act,
authorizing the establishment of agricultural experiment stations.
In the fall of 1890, a year and a half later, the doors of the new
building were opened to students. From that day to the present
the college has been generously supported by the State adminis-
trations, and has been largely patronized by the people of the
state.

The Utah Agricultural College has had a somewhat remark-
able history. In its opening announcement it declared its purpose
so to teach and apply all the arts and sciences, in full present-day
light, that agriculture, home economics, engineering, commerce,
mechanic arts, and all other industrial pursuits would receive
intellectual dignity as well as practical power, and thus be made
quite comparable with the time-honored professions of law, medi-

954 IMPROVEMENT ERA

cine and theology. This was not a well-accepted doctrine in
1890, and the Utah college was among the first to declare openly
and without shame that it would give itself to the professional
dignifying of the common pursuits of mankind.

Instruction was offered from the beginning in agriculture,
domestic science and arts, mechanic arts, civil engineering, min-
ing engineering and irrigation engineering. These were the first
courses, in these subjects, excepting domestic arts, to be offered
in this State. During the second year, instruction in commerce
was added. This was quite an educational departure, for it was
not considered good form, twenty-five years ago, for colleges to
teach commercial subjects. However, in a year or two the busi-
ness course developed into a full fledged college course, offering
a degree in commerce. The Utah Agricultural College thus be-
came the first institution in the West and one of the first in the
whole country to recognize the educational value of commercial
studies and to dignify commerce by placing it on a college basis.
In recent years, the great universities have at last recognized
commerce and several have even given it the great dignity of
making it a part of the post graduate work. To the Utah Agri-
cultural College belongs the credit of having founded instruction,
in Utah, in agriculture, home economics, engineering, mechanic
arts and commerce, and of having been among the pioneers in the
work in the whole land, and of ever standing firmly for the intel-
lectual elevation of all the necessary pursuits of mankind.

It is now as before the aim of the college to consider, as far
as possible, every problem of the rural communities. Grea<"
wealth has been taken from Utah mines, but Utah is essentially a
rural state. The cultivation of the land, with all the activities of
commerce and trades that are derived from it, determines the
building of a commonwealth. The college, therefore, attempts to
treat every phase of the rural problem, by discovering and teach-
ing the natural resources of the state, and by teaching the methods
whereby these resources may be utilized in the best manner. The
college in its growth has gradually standardized its work until,
today, it is upon the basis of the standard colleges of the United
States. However, its doors have always been wide open for all
the people, and it is, therefore, maintaining a large number of
practical courses open without examination to all men and women
over eighteen years of age. Moreover, short courses of various
kinds are offered from year to year to make the service of the
college as large as possible.

The Agricultural Experiment Station, which was provided
for in the organic act of the college, has undertaken to solve the
agricultural problems of an arid state. When the station was
organized, little was known concerning countries under a limited
rainfall, for modern agriculture had been founded in countries of

THE UTAH AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 955

abundant rainfall. Utah can point with pride to the success which
has attended the labors of her experiment station. By the investi-
gations of the station, the nature of the soils, climate and waters
of the state has been determined ; the best crops and the best live
stock for Utah farms have been sought out; the dairy, horticul-
tural and sugar beet business has been encouraged; the value of
the irrigation water has been increased manifold, and the tens of
millions of acres that never can be irrigated have been in part
reclaimed by the methods of dry-farming, and, in general, farm
life in an arid country has been made more pleasant and profitable.
The pioneer work of the Utah station has been adopted by the
other Western states, and in other arid countries of the world,
until today millions of acres of land receiving limited rainfall are
being reclaimed by the steady efforts of the Utah station. The
Utah Experiment Station is without question one of the foremost
in the United States.

The extension division of the college devotes itself to the
business of bringing the message of good agriculture and home-
making to the people of the state who can not attend the regular
work on the college campus. Its work is accomplished by mov-
able schools, farmers' institutes, lectures, study clubs, correspond-
ence-studies, and any other device that will serve the people best.
The number who take part in this work is far larger in propor-
tion to the population than in any other state. The legislative as-
semblies have dealt generously with the extension work. At the
session just closed, another evidence of the up-to-dateness of Utah
in modern education was given, in the passage of an act, possibly
the first of its kind in the West, providing for farm and home
demonstrators, elbow instructors, in every county of the state. In
the extension movement, now grown to large dimensions, Utah
is also a pioneer, for it was in 1896 that the first extension bill
became a law.

From the first president to the last faculty member employed,
great care has been given to the selection of men and women with
high scholarship, unquestioned morality and a clear understand-
ing of the purpose of the college. Considering its numbers, the
faculty of the Utah Agricultural College is unsurpassed in schol-
arship among the agricultural colleges. Fifteen hold their doc-
tor's degrees ; all of the professors and assistant professors have
taken considerable graduate work ; all faculty members are college
graduates. To secure a professorship in the college a training
equivalent to the doctor's degree is required.

The graduates of the College are greatly sought after within
and without the state. Though the Utah Agricultural College
graduates more students than all the other intermountain agri-
cultural colleges together, it has so far been impossible to supp y
the demand. At the present time graduates of the college hold

956 IMPROVEMENT ERA

responsible positions under the state and federal governments in
every western state. Many are in foreign countries. Five of the
graduates of the college were employed last year by Argentina to
assist in the introduction in our South American sister republic
of dry-farming methods. An unusual proportion of the graduates
have continued their studies in the large universities of the East,
where they have left excellent records. In fact, the Utah Agri-
cultural College is quite willing to be judged by its graduates.

Naturally, the support of the people of Utah has been the
main cause of the success of the institution. The people have had
a keen sympathy for the kind of work attempted by the college.
From the earliest days the people of Utah looked with an
understanding eye on education, and Brigham Young, the founder
of the state, declared that the schools should give the kind of
work now ordinarily given by the agricultural colleges. It is not
surprising, therefore, that the Agricultural College of Utah has
been able to render great service to its state.

This brief review of the history and work of the Utah Agri-
cultural College shows that Utah has good reason to be proud of
her Agricultural College. An institution created with intelligence,
founded in wisdom, supported with loyalty, and doing its work
unafraid of the criticisms of those who do not understand, must
of necessity render a good account of itself. It has labored hon-
estly and to the fullest of its knowledge to serve its state. It has
stood and does stand squarely for the education of all the people ;
for the toilers ; for those who do the necessary work of the
world ; for those who are, in fact, the strength of our great repub-
lic— to make more beautiful and more profitable the lives of those
who were forgotten in the older scheme of education. The
college hopes that, as the days come, it may serve more largely,
more wisely, with more love, with more vision, and may be re-
ceived with even a fuller measure of confidence from the people,
so that it may unfold for the use of man the great natural re-
sources of our State and may show how man may become, joy-
fully, the master of the earth.

LOGAN, UTAH

ALFRED LAMBOURNE, BY MAHONRI M. YOUNG.

The bust in bronze of our poet-philosopher is considered by
Mr. Young as among his best works. It was exhibited at the
National Academy of New York, and was engraved in the Chi-
cago Art Journal, and in the International Studio. It was much
praised by the Eastern critics. It was purchased by the State
of Utah and is a part of the Alice Art collection, which will
ultimately be kept in the Capitol Building.

The bust is highly finished and minute in detail, the expres-
sion of the eyes fine, and the treatment of the hair masterly.
From different points of view, the bust exhibits the versatility of
our home author as shown in the many contributions to this
magazine, and the Christmas narrative poem of Plet, the love-
story of Metta, the descriptive philosophical work, Our Inland
Sea; The Rose, a Rhapsody, and the beautiful and learned Me-
morial volume, The Cross: Holly and Easter-Lilies.

mm °^fl

■w

WiwSm

; -Wk0

ym

m

1 $W^c&k

m

WJr Jk

Q

D. H. CHRISTENSEN, SUPERINTENDENT SALT LAKE CITY PUBLIC

SCHOOLS

Mr. Christensen has supervision of a system of twenty-
nine schools in which there are six hundred teachers and about
twenty thousand pupils. Dr. A. E. Winship, of Boston, in a
prominent place in the Journal of Education, recently said of him :
"He is one of the most complete masters of the school situation
in theory and practice, in detail and emergencies, I know ; and 1
know his work as well as that of any superintendent in the coun-
try. Times out of number I have been in his schools during the
past ten years and my admiration has grown steadily."

The Latter-day Saints' Hospital

Another educational factor has entered into the develop-
ment of the work of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, and that is the hospital movement.

There has been established in Salt Lake City, a beautiful
and commodious hospital, known as the Dr. W. H. Groves
Latter-day Saints Hospital ; the name having been derived
through a bequest of the late Dr. W. H. Groves who left his
estate valued at $50,000, toward the establishment of the hos-
pital to bear his name.

The institution has at present a capacity of 125 beds, and
there is in progress of erection an addition which will increase
the capacity of the hospital to nearly 250.

In connection with this institution is a Training School for
Nurses which now has an enrollment of seventy in training in
charge of seven high class supervisors. When the new wing
is ready for occupancy the training school will have an enroll-
ment of about one hundred persons.

■MTMITt'1

'

j ImaiiHMlflH

11

Hfilf .-■.?** m% M ft ' jjBl

^^^^^HR£

■mmgiai;

iLii y

E^ SlBi

NURSES' HOME, LATTER-DAY SAINTS' HOSPITAL

The institution gives a three years' course of training for
nursing in general surgery, medicine, children, hydro and elec-
tro therapy treatments, massage, etc. The institution will rep-
resent, with the new wing, an outlay of nearly $600,000. All
of this vast sum except about $70,000 has been provided from
the general Church funds. The Board of Trustees consists of
the Presiding Bishopric, (C. W. Nibley, O. P. Miller and David
A. Smith), Dr. Joseph S. Richards, and F. S. Richards.

GRADUATING NURSES' CLASS, LATTER-DAY, SAINTS^ HOSPITAL, 1913

The first class of nurses graduated in 1906, and since that time
there have been seventy-one graduates, ten of this number forming the
graduating class of 1913. Their names follow: left to right top row,
Drusilla S. Hodson, Provo; first row Mabel Rockwel , Lehi, Utah;
Adeline Kunz, Bern, Idaho; Daphne Dalton,Manassa, Colorado; second
row Polly M. Skousen, Juarez, Mexico; Miss Dancy, Superintendent
of Nurses; Pattie Pritchard, Salt Lake City; third row Ruth C. Han-
sen Salt Lake City; Audrey Benson, Provo; Mary Albrea Shumway,
Penrose, Wyo.; bottom, Martha Tipton, Salt Lake City.

The Y. M. M. I. A.

The Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association was or-
ganized first in the 13th Ward, Salt Lake City, under the inspira-
tion of President Brigham Young, on the 10th day of June, 1875,
Elder Junius F. Wells being appointed to take the initiative in
the organization.

Steadily from that time up to the present, the association has
grown until in the Church in the ihtermountain country there are
now 670 separate organizations with a permanent enrollment of
33,506, and an active enrollment of 23,335 young men ; over 1,000
are away at schools, and more than that number on missions.

The purposes of the association are to strengthen the faith of
the young people in the divinity of the work of the Lord — the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ; and to develop the
natural gifts within them through religious, physical, and intel-
lectual instruction, and by affording them opportunities for prac-
tice in these various activities.

To this end the organization has so far printed and distrib-
uted, for weekly study, approximately 400,000 manuals in 16
volumes, on religious, moral, economic and ethical subjects. It
has established athletic associations, organized M. I. A. Scouts ;
and made a beginning to help the boys in choosing vocations and
encouraging industries, and in other ways aided them in the de-
velopment of special gifts -and talents through debating, story-
telling, writing, music, orations and other intellectual activities.
Contests in these are held annually, graded from the ward to the
stake, and finally to the Church.

The organization is controlled by a General Board of which
President Joseph F. Smith is the presiding officer. The stake
divisions of the Church, of which there are sixty-four, have super-
intendents and boards of aids who have charge of the associations
in their respective divisions. The single association, which is
subject to the stake board, is directed by a president, counselors,
secretary and board of officers who come in direct contact with the
membership. The M. I. A. Scouts are affiliated with the Boy
Scouts of America, but are a part of the ward improvement as-
sociation and under its supervision. It is needless to say the
activities of the Y. M. M. I. A. have been a great power in the
educational development of the young people of the Church.

For seventeen years, closing with October, 1896, The Con-
tributor was the organ of the associations. Since 1897, and now
in its sixteenth volume, the Improvement Era has been, and is
the organ of these organizations. It has a circulation of 13,000
copies and is one of the forces that has aided greatly in the pro-
gress of the organizations. — Edward H. Anderson.

Editors' Table

Welcome

The Improvement Era bids the teachers of the National
Education Association a hearty welcome to our city and state.
We hope that while they sojourn among us they may enjoy them-
selves and be pleased with what they see, hear, and learn. We
trust also that they may inform themselves correctly on the educa-
tional and social conditions in our state. We believe that in these
respects our people are not a whit behind the best in the land ; —
neither are they in teachers, buildings, environment, resources,
climate, and all that goes to favor intellectual advancement and
physical health and comfort. We believe, too, that the people of
Utah and surrounding states will compare favorably in earnest-
ness, intelligence, devotion to God and to truth, and in the purity
of their social lives, with any other community in our nation. We
ask only that the truth concerning them be learned and told, and,
of course, that falsehood and falsifiers be refuted.

In this number of the Era, largely devoted to educational in-
formation, our readers will find reliable data relating to some of
the intellectual efforts of the people of Utah, past and present.
Aside from illustrated articles that deal with the National Educa-
tion Association, the history and evolution of education, and the
present public school system in Utah, there will be found excellent
papers on the organization and government of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, its missionary and financial systems,
and its schools, — papers, brimful of interesting and up-to-date
matter on these subjects, which we trust not only the visiting
teachers will read and appreciate, but which we hope may prove
valuable also to the missionaries and to our readers in general.

There are thirty-two extra pages in this number, yet we have
found little or no space to devote to the material and scenic in-
terests of our state. Even though only comparatively little could
be said in detail of the many forces that tend to educate, comfort,
and render service to the community, the idea of the magnitude of

964

IMPROVEMENT ERA

the work is grasped to some extent as one reads this number of
the Era, and one is really astonished at what has been and is being
done and expended by our citizens towards intellectual and social
progress. Our splendid choirs, our musicians, artists and authors,
who contribute very largely to our education, blessing, and enjoy-
ment, though so deserving, have received no attention. In agri-
culture, in mining, in manufacture, in happy homes, in natural
beauty, and in many of the business interests which go to make
a great state and a prosperous and contented people, Utah stands
pre-eminently in the front rank of the western states ; while in
climatic conditions no other state in the Union can show anything
more favorable.

We thank our contributors who have so willingly and effi-
ciently aided us in preparing the information contained in these
pages. Without their help the work could not have been accom-
plished. And now, to the visiting educators, a hearty welcome,
and may your sojourn together and with us be fraught with ben-
efit and pleasant memories.

Joseph F. Smith.

A BUSINESS DISTRICT, SALT LAKE CITY, LOOKING NORTH-WEST

L. D. S. Knitted
Garments

made especially for hot, summer days.

COOL AND COMFORTABLE.

No. 60M. Our Superior Mercerized Garment. The finest made.
Suitable for hot, sultry weather. Price, per pair, Post-
paid $2.15

No. 59M. Another excellent Mercerized Garment. Nicely
woven and finished. Price, per pair, Postpaid $1.50

No. 99A. Fine weave, light weight, bleached. Special Price,
per pair, Postpaid 70c

No. 51K. An excellent close, fine weave garment, light weight,
bleached. Very popular grade. Price, per pair, Post-
paid $1.00

No. 52B. Medium light weight, bleached ; strong and serviceable.
Price, per pair, Postpaid $1.10

No. 57. Medium light weight, unbleached ; a well-made, durable
garment. Price, per pair, Postpaid $1.10

FREE! A Beautiful Teaspoon!

During June, July and August we will give absolutely
free a Famous Roger's French Gray pattern Teaspoon, with
every $2.00 order. Six Teaspoons with every $10.00 order.

GARMENTS MARKED FOR 20c PER PAIR.

We ship garments to Elders in all parts of the World. Send
for our complete set of samples of garments.

West's Mail Order House

258 So. State St., Salt Lake City, Utah.

WHEN WRITING TO ADVERTISERS, PLEASE MENTION THE "ERA"

SOME POPULAR SUGGESTIONS

Your Choice: Santa Catalina

Long Beach

"Los Angeles Ocean Park

l :~>;fo.J" Venice
Limited

Newport Beach
" Pacific Redonda

Limited" Santa Barbara
ttr\ 1 J Santa Monica
Overland ^ Huntington Beach
Express" San Diego

Excursion Tickets on sale daily
June 1st to September 30th
Stopovers and Di-
verse Routes

Write for California Literature

TICKET OFFICE, 10 E. 3d South

T. C. PECK, J. H. MANDERFIELD,

G.P.A., Los Angeles A.G.P.A., Salt Lake City

Three Daily
Principles

The Result

"SAFETY FIRST"

High Quality

Service when

2

you travel via

"COURTESY"

"The Stand-

3

CAREFUL ATTEN-
TION TO DETAILS"

ard Lines of
the West"

By These each oper-
ating employee
of the

Automatic
Eledtric
Safety Block

^^T^TB

Signal

pg

Protection

1

pledges his faith

1

CITT TICKET OFFICE

I

HOTEL UTAH

1

SALT LAKE CITT

1

READING COURSE

That the General Board Committee selects for their Reading
Course — the kind of books we always sell — is a good indication
of the kind of books we have. It should prove to you that the
ONE BEST PLACE to buy your GOOD BOOKS is our store.

SENIORS

1. Reign of Antichrist — 50c post-

paid.

2. House of the Lord— $1.50 post-

paid.

3. The American Government —

$1.00, postage extra.

4. Corporal Cameron— $1.25, post-

age extra, 12c.

5. History of Joseph and the Land

of Egypt — 30c, postage extra,
5c.

6. Making the Farm Pay— $1.00,

postage extra, 12c.

JUNIORS

1. Courage of the Commonplace —

50c, postage extra, 5c.

2. Stories of Inventors . . $1.25,

postage extra, 14c.

3. Heroes of Every-day Life — 50c,

postage extra, 10c.

4. Pioneer Trail — $1.00, postage

extra, 10c.

These and all other Good Books at the

Deseret Sunday School Union Book Store

44 East South Temple Street

Salt Lake City

-

WHEN WRITING TO ADVERTISERS, VLEaSE MENTION THE "ERA"

GREATEST FRONTIER SHOW OF ALL

THE STAMPEDE

Salt Lake City,

Utah
July 4th to 10th

First official World's
Championship contests
in broncho riding, steer
roping, steer bulldog-
ging, fancy roping,
fancy riding, etc.

Races of All
Kinds

Cowboys, Cowgirls,
Relay, Indian, Chariot,
etc., etc.

Six Big Days of
Frontier Sports

World's champions
from all parts of the
West will compete.

EXCURSIONS ON
ALL RAILROADS

COME!!

"Lerar Enje)-o

WHEN WRITING TO ADVERTISERS, PLEASE MENTION THE -ERA"

"Voice of the Intangible," a thrilling story of life on the range in southern
Utah, will be continued in the August ERA.

"Some Obligations of Citizenship," a strong and striking paper by Dr.
Ephraim G. Gowans, superintendent of the Industrial School of Utah, will
appear in the August number of the ERA.

The August Number of the ERA will be devoted largely to the Mutual Im-
provement Associations, though enough other matter will be interspersed to
interest all our readers. M. I. A. workers will need the August number.

"Hebrew Idioms and Analogies in the Book of Mormon" by Thomas W.
Brookbank, editor of the "Millennial Star," is the title of a series of articles
that will soon appear in the ERA. To" the student and investigator of this
divine record, the text will be very enlightening.

Improvement Era, July, 1913

Two Dollars per Annum with Manual Free
Entered at the Post Office, Salt Lake City, Utah, as second class matter.

Joseph F. Smith, ) Heber J. Grant, Business Manager

Edward H. Anderson, j Editors Moroni Snow, Assistant

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Hon. P. P. Claxton, U. S. Commissioner of

Education Frontispiece

Education in Utah 841

The National Education Association, Its His-
tory, Work and Misison. Illustrated Edward H. Anderson 843

Residence District, Salt Lake City. Illustra-
tion 853

A Sketch of the American Buffalo in Its Pic-
turesque Relation to the West. Illustrated. Levi Edgar Young, M. A... 854

Accounting for Every Idle Word Edwin F. Parry 860

A Story of Pioneer Days Jennie Leigh 861

Hill and Valley. Illustration 863

Customs and Legends of Utah Indians. IV.. Enoch Jorgensen 864

John Ericsson Monument, Sweden 867

Thorns. A Poem Hope 868

The Artist vs. the Poet Alfred Lambourne 869

G. N. Child, Director for Utah of the N. E. A 876

Education in Utah. Illustrated Levi Edgar Young, M. A. . . 877

Evolution of Education in Utah. Illustrated. .Dr. Geo. H. Brimhall 895

Scene in Ogden Canyon. Illustration 903

Utah Public School System. Illustrated State Supt. A. C. Nelson... 904

Organization and Government of the "Mor-
mon" Church. Illustrated Joseph B. Keeler 928

A Mountain Lake in the Cottonwoods. Illus-
tration 928

The Church Schools.. Illustrated Supt. H. H. Cummings . . . . 929

The "Mormon" Finance System. Illustrated. .Bishop C. W. Nibley 941

Educational Value of the "Mormon" Mission-
ary System. Illustrated Nephi Anderson 944

Utah Agricultural College. Illustrated Dr. John A. Widtsoe 953

Alfred Lambourne. Illustration Mahonri M. Young 957

Supt. D. H. Christensen, Salt Lake City. Il-
lustration 958

The Latter-day Saints' Hospital. Illustrated 959

The Y. M. M. I. A Edward H. Anderson 962

Editors' Table— Welcome Prest. Joseph F. Smith 963

A NEW ERA

has begun in the commercial world. Time was when men of
business acquired whatever special preparation they possessed
in the course of their employment. Today the first essential
of a successful business career is commercial education. The
more thorough the training the more certain the progress.
Through our co-operation with lhe High School we are able
to give more courses, more thoroughly taught, than any other
business school in the West. We meet every need.

Why pay twice as much for half
the Efficiency?

L. D. S. BUSINESS COLLEGE

SALT LAKE CITY

REMINGTON AUTOLOADING SHOTGUN— ONE OF BROWNING'S PATKNT8

DON'T WAIT TILL NEXT SEASON

TO HAVE THAT GUN REPAIRED

SEND IT TO US NOW and HAVE IT READY FOR NEXT SEASON

Send Postal for onr Catalogue, 150 Pages, Illustrated. FREE

BROWNING BROS. CO.. S?2SN

THE NEW MODEL FIVE

L. C. Smith & Bros. Typewriter

Has all the successful features of earlier models with new
ones added It anticipates the demands of owners and
operators and is an example of the highest refinement of
mechanical skill.

The ball bearings at all cardinal points, the inbuilt
attachments, the keyboard ribbon control, lightning es-
capement, rigid carriage, are some of the reasons why this
machine produces neat, accurate copy with the least
amount of effort.

L C. SMITH & BROS. TYPEWRITER CO.

Head Office for Foreign and Domestic Business,

Syracuse, N. Y., TJ. S. A.

SALT LAKE OFFICE, 379 South Main St.,

Salt Lake City

WHEN WRITING 'I U AUi fci,//jt»>, / t^tzHzb MENTION THE "ERA"

EVERY MAN AND WOMAN

IN THE REPUBLIC HAVE A BIRTHRIGHT OF EDUCATION

Such is the inference of American democracy
and such is the wonderful achievement of the
State of Utah in only two generations, due to
;in early reverence for education hy the found
ers. The glory of such a heritage as this is
spurring the educators of Utali on to an abso-
lute fulfillment of the ideal of the pione<
the State.

And so the Utah Agricultural College an-
nounces that always will its doors be open to
the State's men and women and boys and pirls,
the essential question asked being one of sin-
cerity of purpose and the only requirement de-
manded being one of industry. The College
has re-grouped its practical courses. Any per-
son over 18 years of age may enter these prac-
tical courses without examination. Any person
under 18 who has completed two years of high
school work and has then decided to enter
practical fields may enter these courses. Such
courses include Agriculture, Home Economics,
Agricultural Engineering, Commerce, and Me-
chanic Arts. Correspondence courses are given
in all departments. The courses of the College
leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science
require certain high school preparation. These
courses are broad and liberal. Address,

FRONT OF MAIN BUILDING

UTAH AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE,

LOGAN, UTAH

THE PRESIDENT, THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, Logan, Utah.

PROTECT!!

Your dependent ones and yourself with a policy in the

Beneficial Life Insurance Co. of Utah

A HOME COMPANY

Joseph F. Smith, President Lorenzo N. Stohl, Vice-Pres. and General Mgr.

Axel B. C. Ohlson, Secretary

Lead all companies in Utah in amount of New Insurance
written during past three years

HOME OFFICE, VERMONT BUILDING - SALT LAKE CITY. UTAH

Buy the Wagon that runs 40 per cent Lighter

Why shouldn't you when every other Rood wagon quality goes along with It?

LISTEN HERE— You pay the s*me as for a high grade wooden wagon and } ou get twice
the life of the best wooden wagon made.

It's a matter of simple economy. Figure it out for yourself. No drying apart, no re-
setting of tires, no breakdowns, no repair bills. Any way you look at It the cheapest
wagou you can buy Is the

DAVENPORT ROLLER BEARING STEEL WAGON

ALL STEEL GEARING. Angles, I-beam* and channels, steel In its strongest form?,
hot welded and put together like a bridge. STEEL WHEELS that are genuine trutses.
weight borne try all parts of the wheel alike. HUB LIKE AN AUTOMOBILE. Straight
spindles not tapering. ROLLER-BEARINGS that are enclosed and protected from all
mud, water, sand and du*t. OIL without removing wheels, SAVE YOUR IIOU.^E
FLESH AND SAVE YOUR POCKET BOOK. No other wagon like the Davenport, none
as good. Don't buy a wagon till you know all a>>out It. Our catalog will explain all.

Write for it today

CONSOLIDATED WAGON & MACHINE CO., UT^oIDTAHoStSvger«E.v.ADA

WHEN WRITING TO ADVERTISERS, PLEASE MENTION THE "ERA'